A simple strain cell for the measurement of the gauge factor of a thin film

In this article, we present the design and fabrication of a simple strain cell using a displacement dial gauge. The strain sensitivity for this cell is of the order of [formula omitted] which is approximately equal to that obtained by cantilever bending. The advantage of this cell is that it can be used for the determination of the strain for the metal films deposited on any type of substrates, which do not have well defined Young's modulus. The gauge factor for discontinuous silver film deposited on softened poly-2-vinylpyridine substrate protected by an oxide overlayer coating is determined using this strain cell and the value of the gauge factor for this film is about 45.