Nanoindentation of Ag/Ni multilayered thin films

Abstract

Nanoindentation was used to study the mechanical properties of Ag/Ni multilayered thin films. Both the hardness and the elastic modulus of the multilayered thin films had values between those for homogeneous Ag and Ni thin films. The trend in the hardness with layer repeat length can be explained by the effects of both the stress and the microstructure. No evidence for interfacial effects on hardness was found. A decrease in modulus at the smallest repeat lengths was compared with literature data on the elastic constants of Ag/Ni multilayers.