Understanding the factors affecting thin film delamination and quantifying thin film adhesion to their substrates is important to ensure reliable multi-material components which are widely encountered in several technological applications.
Of special interest are brittle-ductile interfaces separating thin ductile films from rigid substrates since they are particularly weak.  Standard routes to quantify such interfaces are 4 Point Bending tests or buckle-driven delamination by means of the stressed overlayer technique [1]. Improving the interface stability for nanosized thin films on brittle substrates is therefore crucial to ensure reliable bi- and multi-material devices.
In a recent study [2] we could demonstrate that intrinsic film properties can significantly influence interface delamination using a newly developed focused ion beam (FIB) cutting technique allowing to experimentally quantify the amount of elastic and plastic deformation stored in the buckled thin film.  This surprising result could be understood by introducing a new finite element model to further help understand plasticity contribution as a toughening mechanism during thin film delamination [3] and to further adapt established models, which currently only account for purely elastic film delamination. Finally, at the nano length scale in-situ TEM fracture experiments are presented where the mechanisms accompanying brittle-ductile interface failure are studied.

[1]    A. Lassnig, B. Putz, S. Hirn, D.M. Többens, C. Mitterer, M.J. Cordill, Adhesion evaluation of thin films to dielectrics in multilayer stacks : A comparison of four-point bending and stressed overlayer technique . Mater. Des. 200 (2021) 109451. doi:10.1016/j.matdes.2021.109451.
[2]    A. Lassnig, V.L. Terziyska, J. Zálešák, T. Jörg, D.M. Többens, T. Griesser, C. Mitterer, R. Pippan, M.J. Cordill, Microstructural Effects on the Interfacial Adhesion of Nanometer-Thick Cu Films on Glass Substrates: Implications for Microelectronic Devices. ACS Appl. Nano Mater. 4 (1) (2021) 61–70. doi:10.1021/acsanm.0c02182.
[3]    S. Zak, A. Lassnig, M. J. Cordill, R. Pippan, Finite element-based analysis of buckling-induced plastic deformation. Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids 157 (2021) 104631. doi: 10.1016/j.jmps.2021.104631.