ABSTRACT
Due to the improvements in manufacturing technology, the thickness of films in semiconductors or micro devices now has reached the nanometer level. Nanoindentation and nanoscratch are the most frequently used techniques for measuring thin film properties such as Young's modulus, hardness, and the frictional coefficient. The molecular dynamics (MD) simulation method has been used to investigate phenomena occurring during the nanoindentation process. It is proposed that the same method be used for this study. MD simulation of nanoindentation is used to investigate various aspects of the interaction between a rigid diamond tip and a monocrystalline gold and diamond film. The chapter shows load–displacement curves for nanoindentation of gold and diamond films, with various temperature conditions. Both Young's modulus and hardness decrease as the temperature increases. The chapter also shows the atomic force microscopy (AFM) images of gold and diamond films.
