SU8 photoresist thin films were fabricated using spin-coating with UV-photolithography technique. The nanomechanical tests were successfully conducted on a thin SU8 film on a Si-substrate to evaluate its elastic modulus and hardness. The tests were executed with great precision using a Bruker Hysitron Tribo Indenter equipped with a Berkovich indenter. The load (Pmax) varied between 70 μN and 500 μN, while the loading rate ranged from 5 to 20 μN/s. At an applied peak load of 100 µN and a loading rate of 10 µN/s, the elastic modulus and hardness obtained for SU8 pristine were found to be 6.50 ± 0.05 GPa and 454.6 ± 7.9 MPa respectively. It has been shown that elastic modulus and hardness increase with greater indentation depth.
JiguetSBertschAJudelewiczM, et al.SU-8 nanocomposite photoresist with low stress properties for microfabrication applications. Microelectron Eng2006; 83: 1966–1970.
2.
PintoVCSousaPJCardosoVF, et al.Optimized SU-8 processing for low-cost microstructures fabrication without cleanroom facilities. Micromachines2014; 5: 738–755.
3.
MemsHSuIOtherP, et al.SU-8: Thick photo-resist for MEMS, 2017, pp. 1–12.
4.
ParkJ-HAllenMGPrausnitzMR. Biodegradable polymer microneedles: fabrication, mechanics and transdermal drug delivery. In: The 26th annual international conference of the IEEE engineering in medicine and biology society, 2004, pp. 2654–2657.
5.
KimKParkDS-WLuHM, et al.A tapered hollow metallic microneedle array using backside exposure of SU-8. J Micromech Microeng2004; 14: 597–603.
6.
DeyPKPramanickBRaviShankarA, et al.Microstructuring of SU-8 resist for MEMS and bio-applications. Int J Smart Sens Intell Syst3910; 3: 118–129.
7.
PrashanthiKNareshMSeenaV, et al.A novel photoplastic piezoelectric nanocomposite for MEMS applications. J Microelectromech Syst2012; 21: 259–261.
8.
SeenaVFernandesAPantP, et al.Polymer nanocomposite nanomechanical cantilever sensors: material characterization, device development and application in explosive vapour detection. Nanotechnology2011; 22: 295501.
9.
SuterMErgenemanOZürcherJ, et al.A photopatternable superparamagnetic nanocomposite: material characterization and fabrication of microstructures. Sensor Actuator B Chem2011; 156: 433–443.
10.
AbbasMZMasoodMUSaleemMM, et al.Design of an electrothermally actuated SU-8 based microgripper for biomedical applications. In: 2018 3rd Asia-Pacific Conference on Intelligent Robot Systems (ACIRS). 2018, pp. 97–102.
11.
VoicuR-CTibeicaCAlZM, et al.V-shaped and Z-shaped SU-8 micro-tweezers with In-plane displacement for micromanipulation. In: 2019 International Conference on Manipulation, Automation and Robotics at Small Scales (MARSS). 2019, pp. 1–6.
12.
PrashanthiKMiriyalaNGaikwadRD, et al.Vibtrational energy harvesting using photo-patternable piezoelectric nanocomposite cantilevers. Nano Energy2013; 2: 923–932.
13.
SaravananPSatyanarayanaNSinhaSK. Self-lubricating SU-8 nanocomposites for microelectromechanical systems applications. Tribol Lett2013; 49: 169–178.
14.
PalacioMBhushanBFerrellN, et al.Nanomechanical characterization of polymer beam structures for BioMEMS applications. Sens Actuators A Phys2007; 135: 637–650.
15.
BhatiaDSharmaHMeenaRS, et al.A novel ZnO piezoelectric microcantilever energy scavenger: fabrication and characterization. Sens Biosens Res2016; 9: 45–52.
16.
BoughraraNBenzartiZKhalfallahA, et al.Comparative study on the nanomechanical behavior and physical properties influenced by the epitaxial growth mechanisms of GaN thin films. Appl Surf Sci2022; 579: 152188.
17.
BoughraraNBenzartiZKhalfallahA, et al.Thickness-dependent physical and nanomechanical properties of AlxGa1−xN thin films. Mater Sci Semicond Process2022; 151: 107023.
18.
E2546-07. Standard practice for instrumented indentation testing. 2007.
19.
Al-HalhouliATKampenIKrahT, et al.Nanoindentation testing of SU-8 photoresist mechanical properties. Microelectron Eng2008; 85: 942–944.
KrishnaBChaturvediAMishraN, et al.Nanomechanical characterization of SU8/ZnO nanocomposite films for applications in energy-harvesting microsystems. J Micromech Microeng2018; 28: 115013.
22.
KrishnaBChaturvediAMishraN, et al.Quasi-static and dynamic nanomechanical characterization of PMMA/ZnO nanocomposite thick films synthesized by ultrasonication and spin-coating. Polym Polym Compos2021; 29: S229–S238.
23.
Fischer-CrippsAC. Critical review of analysis and interpretation of nanoindentation test data. Surf Coating Technol2006; 200: 4153–4165.
