An Integrated Laser-Induced Piezoelectric/Differential Confocal Surface Acoustic Wave System for Measurement of Thin Film Young's Modulus

The present paper presents the design and development results of a system setup for measuring Young’s modulus of thin films by laser-induced surface acoustic waves based on the integration of two detection methods, namely, piezoelectric transducer detection and differential confocal detection, which may be used for conducting consecutive or simultaneous measurements. After demonstrating the capabilities of each detection approach, it is shown how, depending on a wider range of applications, sample materials and measurement environments, the developed integrated system inherits and harnesses the main characteristics of its detection channels, resulting in an more practical and flexible equipment for determining Young’s modulus than traditional nanoindentation equipment, and also suitable for cross-validation purposes.