Measurement of Young's modulus and volumetric mass density/thickness of ultrathin films utilizing resonant based mass sensors

By detecting the resonant frequency shift caused by an attached particle before and after film deposition, the Young's modulus and either mass density or thickness of a patterned thin film can be determined. Furthermore, for a film characterization, the particle mass does not need to be known and its attachment position can be either measured or calculated from consecutive resonant frequency shifts: two for bridge and three for cantilever. The applicability of mass sensors in film characterization has been confirmed by comparing predictions with recent experiments.