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Competitive Motions of Grain-Boundary and Free Surface in Selecting Thin Film Morphology

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Abstract

During annealing of a polycrystalline thin film, grain-boundaries and film surfaces move. If the grain-boundaries move faster, the grains having the lowest free energy grow at the expense of others, resulting in a continuous film with large grains. If the film surfaces move faster, they groove along their junctions with the grain-boundaries, breaking the film to islands. This paper describes analytic solutions for steady surface motions, and discusses the morphology selection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mechanical and Environmental Engineering Department, and Materials Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93111, USA

    B. Sun & Z. Suo

  2. Engineering Mechanics Department, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

    W. Yang

Authors
  1. B. Sun
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  2. Z. Suo
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  3. W. Yang
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Sun, B., Suo, Z. & Yang, W. Competitive Motions of Grain-Boundary and Free Surface in Selecting Thin Film Morphology. MRS Online Proceedings Library 441, 95–100 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1557/PROC-441-95

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/PROC-441-95

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