Young's Modulus Measurement of Thin Films by Resonant Frequency Method Using Magnetostrictive Resonator

At present, there are many methods about Young's modulus measurement of thin films, but so far there is no recognized simple, non-destructive and cheaper standard measurement method. Considering thin films with various thicknesses were sputter deposited on the magnetostrictive resonator and monitoring the resonator's first-order longitudinal resonant frequency shift both before and after deposition induced by external magnetic field, an Young's modulus assessing method based on classical laminated plate theory is presented in this paper. Using the measured natural frequencies of Au, Cu, Cr, Al and SiC materials with various thicknesses in the literature, the Young's modulus of the five materials with various thicknesses are calculated by the method in this paper. In comparison with the Young's modulus calculated by the other methods, it is found that the calculated Young's modulus for various thicknesses are in good agreement with the Young's modulus values in the literature. Considering the simple and non-destructive characteristics of this method, which can effectively describe the effect of the thickness on the Young's modulus, it has the potential to become a standard assessing method of thin film Young's modulus.