Scanning Microdeformation Microscopy: Advances in Quantitative Micro- and Nanometrology

The SMM is a well known scanning acoustic probe technique. Recently in the last years in order to optimize this metrological instrument a sensitivity study was carried out to adapt the stiffness of the microcantilevers to the encountered contact stiffnesses. The accuracy of the measurement is so optimized for the elasticity of the sample to characterize. Problems coming from the sliding of the tip on the surface and their effects were exhibited. New specific geometries of microcantilevers were conceived to reduce these perturbations. Their use reduced significantly the slip and so led to a better determination of the resonance frequencies, even for high amplitudes of vibration. In a last part a study of mechanical characterization was realized on polymers using DMA, SMM and nanoindentation. The use of different techniques enables to obtain complementary measures (viscoelastic characterization for several decades).