A simple resonant method that can simultaneously measure elastic modulus and density of thin films

By measuring the resonant frequencies of cantilever beams without and with thinfilms deposited and with the use of the Euler–Bernoulli beam theory, elasticmodulus and density of thinfilms can be determined simultaneously. This simpleresonantmethod was validated using a sputtered Ni film/Si substrate system. The elasticmodulus of the Ni film obtained from this method was in excellent agreement with that measured by use of nanoindentation