Investigation of mechanical properties of gold thin films using a bulge test technique

Abstract

A bulge test device has been built, with the aim to perform mechanical tests on membranes with a thickness in the 100 nm to 10 μm ranges, between room temperature and 900 °C.Our set up a differential atmospheric pressure is applied across a membrane, while the deflection is measured using a laser interferometer. We show first results obtained from gold membranes with different thicknesses. © 2010 IOP Publishing Ltd.