Compositional dependence of Young’s moduli for amorphous Cu–Zr films measured using combinatorial deposition on microscale cantilever arrays

Young’s moduli of amorphous Cu–Zr thin films have been determined with unprecedented compositional resolution, via combinatorial film deposition and force–deflection measurements of microscale cantilevers. This elastic property increased monotonically with increasing Cu content. Such cantilever-based surveys of compositional libraries are considerably more rapid than that required of bulk samples. Additionally, interpretation of the film elastic modulus Ef via this approach is advantageous over indentation-based methods, particularly in terms of straightforward calculation that does not require knowledge of the glass’s Poisson’s ratio.