Traceable nanoscale indentation measurement of film adhesion

A traceable technique for measuring the adhesion of nanoscale films by indentation and scratching is presented. The tensile stroke displacement of the indenter and the depth of the indentation are measured by two laser interferometers with a measurement accuracy of 2 nm. The use of electrostatic force generation to accurately measure and adjust the pressure and tension values during the adhesion measurement process is realized by a comb capacitor structure. To improve the accuracy of the adhesion measurements, the area function of the indenter was measured using an atomic force microscope. By comparing the pressure values with those of the nanomechanical measurement system, better results were obtained with an accuracy of 5 % for the adhesion measurements.