Thin metal films in the nanometer range are extensively used for electronic and optoelectronic devices. However, the residual stress has a profound impact on the durability of the devices during their lifetime. This paper developed a two-dimensional (2D) elastic model to study the residual stress and opening-mode fractures (OMFs) in a film/substrate assembly. The fracture strength expressed by crack length is derived by the strength criterion. This paper also studies fragmentation of 100–400 nm thin Cr films on 125 μm polyimide substrates. The residual stress in the coating process is estimated based on the onset strains of fragmentation. For films with thicknesses of 100 nm, 200 nm, and 400 nm, the estimated residual stresses are −1.204 GPa, −0.889 GPa, and −0.305 GPa respectively. This method shows more convenient than some traditional methods (including the use of X-ray diffraction technique or other methods of determining curvature). The tensile fragmentation tests would provide data to verify the accuracy of the estimation during crack accumulation; a good agreement is found between the experimental results and those predicted using the estimated residual stresses.

纳米范围的金属薄膜广泛用于电子和光电器件。然而，残余应力对器件在其使用寿命期间的耐用性具有深远的影响。本文开发了一种二维 (2D) 弹性模型来研究薄膜/基板组件中的残余应力和开孔模式断裂 (OMF)。用裂纹长度表示的断裂强度由强度准则推导出来。本文还研究了 125 μm 聚酰亚胺基板上 100–400 nm Cr 薄膜的碎裂。涂层过程中的残余应力是根据破碎的起始应变来估计的。对于厚度为 100 nm、200 nm 和 400 nm 的薄膜，估计的残余应力分别为 -1.204 GPa、-0.889 GPa 和 -0.305 GPa。这种方法显示出比一些传统方法（包括使用X射线衍射技术或其他确定曲率的方法）更方便。拉伸破碎试验将提供数据以验证裂纹积累过程中估计的准确性；在实验结果和使用估计残余应力预测的结果之间发现了很好的一致性。