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The instability of polycrystalline thin films: Experiment and theory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2011

K. T. Miller ,
F. F. Lange  and
D. B. Marshall
K. T. Miller
Affiliation:
Department of Materials, College of Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106
F. F. Lange
Affiliation:
Department of Materials, College of Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106
D. B. Marshall
Affiliation:
Structural Ceramics Group, Rockwell International Science Center, Thousand Oaks, California 91360
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Abstract

Dense polycrystalline thin films of ZrO2 (3 and 8 mol % Y2O3) were produced by the pyrolysis of zirconium acetate precursor films, which were deposited on single crystal Al2O3 substrates by spin-coating aqueous solutions of zirconium acetate and yttrium nitrate. Dense films were heat treated to encourage grain growth. With grain growth, these films broke into islands of ZrO2 grains. Identical areas were examined after each heat treatment to determine the mechanism that causes the polycrystalline film to uncover the substrate. Two mechanisms were detailed: (a) for a composition which inhibited grain growth and produced a polycrystalline film with very small grains, the smallest grains would disappear to uncover the substrate, and (b) for a composition which did not inhibit grain boundary motion, larger grains grew by enveloping a smaller grain and then developed more spherical surface morphologies, uncovering the substrate at three grain junctions. In both cases, the breakup phenomenon occurred when the average grain size was larger than the film thickness. Thermodynamic calculations show that this breakup lowers the free energy of the system when the grain-size-to-film-thickness ratio exceeds a critical value. These calculations also predict the conditions needed for polycrystalline thin film stability.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 5 , Issue 1 , January 1990 , pp. 151 - 160
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1990

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References

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