Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-cjp7w Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-30T23:56:18.687Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Grain growth in nanocrystalline copper thin films investigated by non-ambient X-ray diffraction measurements

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2016

Y. Kuru ,
M. Wohlschlögel ,
U. Welzel  and
E.J. Mittemeijer
Y. Kuru
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institute for Metals Research, Heisenbergstr. 3, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany
M. Wohlschlögel
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institute for Metals Research, Heisenbergstr. 3, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany
U. Welzel*
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institute for Metals Research, Heisenbergstr. 3, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany
E.J. Mittemeijer
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institute for Metals Research, Heisenbergstr. 3, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany
*
a)Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Electronic mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The microstructure evolution (crystallite size and microstrain) as well as the residual stress of Cu thin films of various thicknesses (250 nm, 500 nm, and 1 μm) on passivated Si substrates during isochronal annealing was investigated by in situ X-ray diffraction measurements in the temperature range between 25 °C and 250 °C. Before annealing, the thermoelastic behavior was investigated excluding the occurrence of thermally activated relaxation processes occurring above ambient temperature by in situ stress measurements below ambient temperature. On this basis, above ambient temperature, effects of stress relaxation and emerging secondary stresses (due to grain growth and annihilation of crystal defects, giving rise to a considerable tensile stress contribution development) could be identified for all three layers in the temperature regime between ambient temperature and 250 °C. Grain growth in the nanocrystalline thin films started at much lower temperatures as compared to coarse-grained materials. The results were discussed in terms of the effects of different driving forces and grain-boundary mobilities acting in nanocrystalline materials.

Keywords

nanocrystalline materialsgrain growthresidual stressline-profile analysisin situ X-ray diffraction
Type
X-Ray Diffraction
Information
Powder Diffraction , Volume 24 , Special Issue 2 , June 2009 , pp. 85 - 88
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bos, C., Sommer, F., and Mittemeijer, E. J. (2007). “Atomistic study on the activation enthalpies for interface mobility and boundary diffusion in an interface-controlled phase transformation,” Philos. Mag. 87, 2245–2262.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Keijser, Th. H., Langford, J. I., Mittemeijer, E. J., and Vogels, A. B. P. (1982). “Use of the Voigt function in a single-line method for the analysis of X-ray diffraction line broadening,” J. Appl. Crystallogr. 15, 308–314.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Delhez, R., de Keijser, Th. H., and Mittemeijer, E. J. (1982). “Determination of crystallite size and lattice distortions through X-ray diffraction line profile analysis,” Fresenius' Z. Anal. Chem. 312, 1–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Divinski, S. V., Lohmann, M., Surholt, T., and Herzig, Chr. (2001). “Grain boundary motion during Ag and Cu grain boundary diffusion in Cu polycrystals,” Interface Sci. 9, 357–363.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doerner, M. F. and Nix, W. D. (1988). “Stresses and deformation processes in thin films on substrates,” Crit. Rev. Solid State Mater. Sci. 14, 225–268.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Estrin, Y., Gottstein, G., Rabkin, E., and Shvindlerman, L. S. (2001). “Grain growth in thin metallic films,” Acta Mater. 49, 673–681.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gale, W. F. and Totemeier, T. C. (2004). Smithells Metals Reference Book (Elsevier, Amsterdam), pp. 15(5)–15(6).Google Scholar
Gottstein, G., Molodov, D. A., and Shvindlerman, L. S. (2006). “Kinematics, dynamics, and microstructural effects of grain boundary junctions,” J. Mater. Sci. 41, 7730–7740.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hansen, K. and Pantleon, K. (2008). “Microstructure stability of silver electrodeposits at room temperature,” Scr. Mater. 58, 96–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Janssen, G. C. A. M. (2007). “Stress and strain in polycrystalline thin films,” Thin Solid Films 515, 6654–6664.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krill, C. E., Helfen, L., Michels, D., Natter, H., Fitch, A., Masson, O., and Birringer, R. (2001). “Size-dependent grain-growth kinetics observed in nanocrystalline Fe,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 842–845.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kuru, Y., Wohlschlögel, M., Welzel, U., and Mittemeijer, E. J. (2008). “Non-ambient X-ray diffraction residual stress analysis of thin films: tracing nanosize-related effects on thermoelastic constants and identifying sources of residual stresses,” J. Appl. Crystallogr. 41, 428–435.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, F., Sommer, F., Bos, C., and Mittemeijer, E. J. (2007). “Analysis of solid state phase transformation kinetics: models and recipes,” Int. Mater. Rev. 52, 193–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Machlin, E. S. (1998). Materials Science in Microelectronics II: The Effects of Structure on Properties in Thin Films (Giro Press, New York), pp. 13–64.Google Scholar
Mittemeijer, E. J. and Scardi, P. (2004). Diffraction Analysis of the Microstructure of Materials (Springer, Berlin), pp. 1–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pantleon, K. and Somers, M. A. J. (2006). “In situ investigation of the microstructure evolution in nanocrystalline copper electrodeposits at room temperature,” J. Appl. Phys. 100, 114319-1—114319-7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ramaswamy, V., Nix, W. D., and Clemens, B. M. (2004). “Coherency and surface stress effects in metal multilayers,” Scr. Mater. 50, 711–715.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sonneveld, E. J., Delhez, R., de Keijser, Th. H., and Mittemeijer, E. J. (1991). “Quality of unraveling of experimental diffraction patterns with artificially varied overlap,” Mater. Sci. Forum 79–82, 85–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sonnweber-Ribic, P., Gruber, P., Dehm, G., and Arzt, E. (2006). “Texture transition in Cu thin films: Electron backscatter diffraction vs. X-ray diffraction,” Acta Mater. 54, 3863–3870.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thompson, C. V. and Carel, R. (1996). “Stress and grain growth in thin films,” J. Mech. Phys. Solids 44, 657–673.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Welzel, U., Ligot, J., Lamparter, P., Vermeulen, A. C., and Mittemeijer, E. J. (2005). “Stress analysis of polycrystalline thin films and surface regions by X-ray diffraction,” J. Appl. Crystallogr. 38, 1–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Windischmann, H. (1992). “Intrinsic stress in sputter-deposited thin films,” Crit. Rev. Solid State Mater. Sci. 17, 547–596.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wohlschlögel, M., Welzel, U., Maier, G., and Mittemeijer, E. J. (2006). “Calibration of a heating/cooling chamber for X-ray diffraction measurements of mechanical stress and crystallographic texture,” J. Appl. Crystallogr. 39, 194–201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar