Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 11, 2026
Scalable Solution-processed Fabrication Strategy for High-performance, Flexible, Transparent Electrodes with Embedded Metal Mesh
Published on: June 23, 2017
A novel high-throughput fatigue testing method for metallic thin films
Sofie Burger1, Christoph Eberl1, Alexander Siegel2
1Institute for Applied Materials, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Kaiserstr 12, 76131, Karlsruhe, Germany.
Abstract:
Thin films are used in a wide variety of computing and communication applications although their fatigue behavior and its dependence on alloying elements are not very well known. In this paper, we present an experimental implementation of a novel high-throughput fatigue testing method for metallic thin films. The methodology uses the fact that the surface strain amplitude of a vibrating cantilever decreases linearly from the fixed end to the free end. Therefore, a thin film attached to a vibrating cantilever will experience a gradient of strain and corresponding stress amplitudes along the cantilever. Each cantilever can be used to extract a lifetime diagram by measuring the fatigue-induced damage front that progresses along the cantilever during up to 108 load cycles.
