The ability to explore the material behavior on the nanoscale is of primary importance to future miniaturization research (i.e. the design and fabrication of micro- and nano-scale devices). In fact, a common thread linking many important application areas is the need to quantitatively characterize material behavior on the nanoscale (e.g. multi-layer films for engineering applications, engineered biomaterials, and studies of cell membrane mechanics). The objective of the proposed research is to study inherent measurement nonlinearities that often cause research scientist to misinterpret the results of dynamic nanoindentation tests. Broadly speaking, the proposed efforts examine some of the most prevalent problems that confound current measurement data in an effort to provide nonlinear corrections that will greatly improve the reported measurement results.
