Atomic scale analysis of phase formation and diffusion kinetics in Ag/Al multilayer thin films

2016 ◽  
Vol 120 (19) ◽  
pp. 195306 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hisham Aboulfadl ◽  
Isabella Gallino ◽  
Ralf Busch ◽  
Frank Mücklich
Author(s):  
G. Lucadamo ◽  
K. Barmak ◽  
C. Michaelsen

The subject of reactive phase formation in multilayer thin films of varying periodicity has stimulated much research over the past few years. Recent studies have sought to understand the reactions that occur during the annealing of Ni/Al multilayers. Dark field imaging from transmission electron microscopy (TEM) studies in conjunction with in situ x-ray diffraction measurements, and calorimetry experiments (isothermal and constant heating rate), have yielded new insights into the sequence of phases that occur during annealing and the evolution of their microstructure.In this paper we report on reactive phase formation in sputter-deposited lNi:3Al multilayer thin films with a periodicity A (the combined thickness of an aluminum and nickel layer) from 2.5 to 320 nm. A cross-sectional TEM micrograph of an as-deposited film with a periodicity of 10 nm is shown in figure 1. This image shows diffraction contrast from the Ni grains and occasionally from the Al grains in their respective layers.


JOM ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evgeny T. Moiseenko ◽  
Sergey M. Zharkov ◽  
Roman R. Altunin ◽  
Oleg V. Belousov ◽  
Leonid A. Solovyov ◽  
...  

2004 ◽  
Vol 821 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus J. Buehler ◽  
Alexander Hartmaier ◽  
Huajian Gao

AbstractIn a recent study of diffusional creep in polycrystalline thin films deposited on substrates, we have discovered a new class of defects called the grain boundary diffusion wedges (Gao et al., Acta Mat. 47, pp. 2865-2878, 1999). These diffusion wedges are formed by stress driven mass transport between the free surface of the film and the grain boundaries during the process of substrate-constrained grain boundary diffusion. The mathematical modeling involves solution of integro-differential equations representing a strong coupling between elasticity and diffusion. The solution can be decomposed into diffusional eigenmodes reminiscent of crack-like opening displacement along the grain boundary which leads to a singular stress field at the root of the grain boundary. We find that the theoretical analysis successfully explains the difference between the mechanical behaviors of passivated and unpassivated copper films during thermal cycling on a silicon substrate. An important implication of our theoretical analysis is that dislocations with Burgers vector parallel to the interface can be nucleated at the root of the grain boundary. This is a new dislocation mechanism in thin films which contrasts to the well known Mathews-Freund-Nix mechanism of threading dislocation propagation. Recent TEM experiments at the Max Planck Institute for Metals Research have shown that, while threading dislocations dominate in passivated metal films, parallel glide dislocations begin to dominate in unpassivated copper films with thickness below 400 nm. This is consistent with our theoretical predictions. We have developed large scale molecular dynamics simulations of grain boundary diffusion wedges to clarify the nucleation mechanisms of parallel glide in thin films. Such atomic scale simulations of thin film diffusion not only show results which are consistent with both continuum theoretical and experimental studies, but also revealed the atomic processes of dislocation nucleation, climb, glide and storage in grain boundaries. The study should have far reaching implications for modeling deformation and diffusion in micro- and nanostructured materials.


1991 ◽  
Vol 230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katayun Barmak ◽  
Kevin R. Coffey ◽  
David A. Rudman ◽  
Simon Foner

AbstractWe investigated the phase formation sequence in the reaction of multilayer thin films of Nb/Al with overall compositions of 25 and 33 at.% AI. We report novel phenomena which distinguish thin-film reactions unequivocally from those in bulk systems. For sufficiently thin layers composition and stability of product phases are found to deviate significantly from that predicted from the equilibrium phase diagram. We demonstrate that in the Nb/Al system the length scales below which such deviations occur is about 150 nm. We believe that these phenomena occur due to the importance of grain boundary diffusion and hence microstructure in these thin films.


2008 ◽  
Vol 16 (9) ◽  
pp. 1061-1065 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Noro ◽  
A.S. Ramos ◽  
M.T. Vieira

2015 ◽  
Vol 17 (12) ◽  
pp. 7659-7669 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edvinas Navickas ◽  
Tobias M. Huber ◽  
Yan Chen ◽  
Walid Hetaba ◽  
Gerald Holzlechner ◽  
...  

Isotope exchange depth profile measurements were performed on columnar/epitaxial LSM thin films with varied microstructure. These uncover the importance of grain boundaries for oxygen reduction reaction and oxide ion diffusion.


JOM ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evgeny T. Moiseenko ◽  
Sergey M. Zharkov ◽  
Roman R. Altunin ◽  
Oleg V. Belousov ◽  
Leonid A. Solovyov ◽  
...  

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