Internal stress, young's modulus and adhesion energy of carbon films on glass substrates

Abstract

The mechanical properties of carbon films 500–3000 Å thick deposited onto glass substrates were investigated. The average internal stress measured by the cantilever method was 5 x 10⁸N m⁻² compression. This large stress often generates wrinkles in the films. Young's modulus of the film and the adhesion energy between the film and the substrate can be estimated from the shape and size of the wrinkles. As a method of estimation, the elastic energy of the wrinkled film is considered. The dependence of the size of the wrinkles on the film thickness is deduced and compared with experimental results.