PMSE 75

Buckling of stiff thin films on compliant substrates represents a new and rapidly growing field, with outcomes that are relevant to areas ranging from advanced electronics to precision metrology and sensors.  A well-accepted buckling model does not hold for some applications since it is based on infinite thin film width.  In this paper, systematically experimental and theoretical studies for thin film buckling with finite film width are presented.  The results show that both buckling amplitude and wavelength strongly depend on film width; as the film width increases, the wavelength and amplitude increase accordingly.  The theoretical results agree very well with experimental measurements.  The nonlinear buckling model developed here would be a valuable guide in precisely designing and controlling the buckling profile in many applications, especially on metrology applications.