SUPPORTING INFORMATION
Measurement of Young`s modulus and volumetric mass density / thickness of
ultrathin films utilizing resonant based mass sensors
Ivo Stachiv,1,2,a) David Vokoun2 and Yeau-Ren Jeng1
1
Advanced Institute of Manufacturing with High-tech Innovations (AIM-HI), National Chung
Cheng University, Taiwan
2
Institute of Physics, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Rep.
Experimental device setup
Sketch of the considered experimental device setup is given in Fig. S1. It consists of a beam,
a piezodriver, a laser and a photodetector. Beam is usually fabricated from silicon- or polymer
based materials such as silicon, silicon oxide, silicon nitride, SU-8, parylene. Laser is focused on
the beam and the position of the reflected light is detected by the photodiode (see Fig.). A single
particle such as gold bead can be positioned and manipulated on the beam by, for instance,
micromanipulator. The position of the attached particle can be either measured by scanning
electron microscope or determined from the first two for suspended beam and the first three for
cantilever configuration consecutive resonant frequencies.S1,S2 It is worth noting that the
proposed method does not require the same particle attachment position before and after the film
deposition. Moreover, the conventional AFM microscope can be also used for thin film
measurements. The detailed description of the different experimental procedures and detection
techniques for attached particle measurement has been already published.S3
1
Experimental procedure
At first, the resonant frequency of the beam without deposited film and attached particle is
determined. Then, the single particle is placed on the beam by utilizing the micromanipulator and
the attachment position is either measured by scanning electron microscope or determined from
detected consecutive resonant frequencies: two for suspended and thee for cantilever
configuration. The resonant frequencies of beam with an attached particle and its location are
recorded. Now the required ultrathin film is deposited on the beam and the resonant frequency
with and without attached particle is again recorded. Finally, plugging the measured resonant
frequencies and determined / measured particle attachment positions in the Eqs. (4) and (6) yield
the elastic modulus and mass density / thickness of the deposited material.
Fig. S1. Sketch of the considered experimental device setup for thin film measurement
References
S1. I. Stachiv, Sens. Lett. 11, 613 (2013).
S2. I. Stachiv, A. I. Fedorchenko, and Y.-L. Chen, Appl. Phys. Lett. 100, 093110 (2012).
S3. A. Boisen, S. Dohn, S. S. Keller, S. Smid, and M. Tenje, Rep. on Prog. in Phys. 74, 036101
(2011).
2