Caracterización de láminas delgadas ferroeléctricas por nanoidentación

Nanoindentation techniques have been used to determine the mechanical properties of two well characterised Pb 0.88 La 0.08 TiO 3 ferroelectric thin films which have been shown to be promising for MEMs applications.A ceramic with the same nominal composition and the substrate material were also tested as an aid in the interpretation of results.Test routines have been developed using the spherical indentation geometry to distinguish the elastic and permanent deformation of the materials.Mechanical data for different layers in the heterostructure could be determined by using indenters with different radii.The technique provides information on the elastic modulus of the film, the onset and nature of permanent deformation, film delamination and the effects of porosity and residual stress.These techniques open the possibility to characterise fully the mechanical response of a microdevice.