The cohesive zone model (CZM) is introduced in the surface acoustic wave (SAW) technique to characterize the interfacial adhesion property of the low-k thin film deposited on the Silicon substrate. The ratio of the two parameters in the CZM, the maximum normal traction and normal interface characteristic length, is derived to evaluate the interfacial adhesion properties quantitatively. In this study, the adhesion criterion to judge the adhesion property is newly proposed by the CZM-SAW technique. The criterion determination processes of two kinds of film, dense and porous Black Diamond with different film thicknesses, are presented in this paper. The interfacial adhesion properties of the dense and porous Black Diamond films with different thicknesses are evaluated by the CZM-SAW technique quantitatively and nondestructively. The quantitative adhesion properties are obtained by fitting the experimental dispersion curves with maximum frequency up to 220 MHz with the theoretical ones. Results of the nondestructive CZM-SAW technique and the destructive nanoscratch exhibit the same trend in adhesion properties, which means that the CZM-SAW technique is a promising method for determining the interfacial adhesion. Meanwhile, the adhesion properties of the detected samples are judged by the determined criterion. The test results show that different test film materials with different film thicknesses ranging from 300 nm to 1000 nm are in different adhered conditions. This paper exhibits the advantage of the CZM-SAW technique which can be a universal method to characterize the film adhesion. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.