ABSTRACT
With the development of process technology, it has become
possible to fabricate thin films comprising aggregated or dispersed
nanometer-scale elements (nano-elements), as illustrated in Fig.
7.1a (Hersee et al., 2006; Kipshidze et al., 2005; Mohan et al., 2005;
Tomioka et al., 2007; Dyke and Martin, 1990; Lee et al., 2007;
Lai et al., 2008). Because of its characteristic structure, the film is
expected to have exotic mechanical properties. A porous film with
tunable nanoholes, illustrated in Fig. 7.1b (Guo et al., 2005; Chung
et al., 2007; Jin et al., 1998; Zhu and Ding, 1999; Kohl et al., 1999;
Shin et al., 2005; Ekanayake et al., 2007; Zang et al., 2005), is in
this family in terms of its mechanical behavior. Although we discuss
only the examples of nano-elements, in Fig. 7.1a in this chapter, that
behavior is easily extended to films with nanoholes, as shown in Fig.
7.1b.
