Analysis of the influence factors on the measurement of elastic modulus using the microcantilever deflection on a nanoindenter

The primary influence factors was analyzed synthetically for measuring the elastic modulus on a nano indenter by the method of microcantilever deflection, which include stiffness of suspending springs of the loading system, local penetration of the indenter tip, curvature across the micro cantilever beam's width, and compliance of the beam support. Taking these influences into account, the effective deflection can be obtained, which is combined with the bending load to evaluate elastic modulus of the microcantilever beam. Some experiments of micro cantilever beam specimens of Si (100) were carried out, and their evaluated elastic modulus is 155 ± 9.5% GPa, which is agreeable with the relative literature's result. Therefore, for measuring the elastic modulus accurately using the microcantilever deflection on a nano indenter, some influence factors should be synthetically considered.