An In-Situ Tem Study of the Dynamic Behavior of Domain Walls in a Free-Standing Lead Titanate Thin Film Under External Stress

1995 ◽  
Vol 404 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. B. Ren ◽  
C. J. Lu ◽  
H. M. Shen ◽  
Y. N. Wang
Keyword(s):  
Thin Film ◽  
Thin Films ◽  
Dynamic Behavior ◽  
Domain Walls ◽  
High Stress ◽  
Ferroelectric Thin Film ◽  
External Stress ◽  
In Situ Tem ◽  
Free Standing

AbstractThe evolution of domain structure with external stress in a free-standing PbTiO3 ferroelectric thin film of ˜100nm in thickness is observed by in-situ TEM technique. The thin film is composed of granular grains of ˜100nm in diameter, most of them appear to be single-domained whereas others are multi-domained showing domains of different sizes(5˜20nm). For some single-domained grains new domains appear during tension. For multi-domained grains, rearrangement of domain walls and coarsening of domains have been observed during tension. In many cases the domain walls disappear under high stress, i.e., a multi-domained grain changes into a single-domained grain. However, it is also observed that a large portion of single-domained grains appear not to respond to external stress. The dynamic behavior of domain walls in very thin ferroelectric thin films may help to understand the switching of these very thin films.

In situ TEM Observations of Grain Growth in Nanograined Thin Films

2004 ◽  
Vol 854 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Hattar ◽  
J. Gregg ◽  
J. Han ◽  
T. Saif ◽  
I. M. Robertson
Keyword(s):  
Thin Films ◽  
Grain Growth ◽  
Elevated Temperatures ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Grain Structure ◽  
In Situ Tem ◽  
Free Standing ◽  
Transmission Electron Microscopy Analysis ◽  
Cu Films

ABSTRACTIn situ transmission electron microscopy analysis is used to study the stability of nanograined and ultra-fine grained thin films at elevated temperatures. In the free-standing Au and Cu films, grain growth was dependent on annealing temperature and time with growth observed in both materials at temperatures greater than 373K. Both materials exhibited abnormal grain growth although it was more prevalent in Au than in Cu, which may be a consequence of pinning of the Cu grain boundaries by impurities. The formation and destruction of twins was observed to play a critical role in the grain growth, with the twins retarding the growth in gold, but not in Cu. In constrained Au films no grain growth was observed on annealing at temperatures below 636 K. At 636 K, the eutectic temperature, the microstructure transformed to the eutectic structure with the first stage being the annihilation of the grain structure.

The use of transmission and analytical electron microscopy in studying reactions and phase transformations in thin film

1993 ◽  
Vol 51 ◽  
pp. 842-843
Author(s):  
K. Barmak
Keyword(s):  
Thin Film ◽  
Thin Films ◽  
Phase Transformations ◽  
Analytical Electron Microscopy ◽  
Ex Situ ◽  
Multilayer Thin Films ◽  
Absolute Concentration ◽  
Analytical Electron ◽  
Deposition Step

Generally, processing of thin films involves several annealing steps in addition to the deposition step. During the annealing steps, diffusion, transformations and reactions take place. In this paper, examples of the use of TEM and AEM for ex situ and in situ studies of reactions and phase transformations in thin films will be presented.The ex situ studies were carried out on Nb/Al multilayer thin films annealed to different stages of reaction. Figure 1 shows a multilayer with dNb = 383 and dAl = 117 nm annealed at 750°C for 4 hours. As can be seen in the micrograph, there are four phases, Nb/Nb3-xAl/Nb2-xAl/NbAl3, present in the film at this stage of the reaction. The composition of each of the four regions marked 1-4 was obtained by EDX analysis. The absolute concentration in each region could not be determined due to the lack of thickness and geometry parameters that were required to make the necessary absorption and fluorescence corrections.

Growth kinetics of Al2Cu in an Al-1.5Cu thin film by in Situ TEM

1993 ◽  
Vol 51 ◽  
pp. 1172-1173
Author(s):  
M. Park ◽  
S.J. Krause ◽  
S.R. Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Thin Film ◽  
In Situ Tem ◽  
Collector Plate ◽  
Transmission Electron ◽  
Device Processing ◽  
Corrosion Susceptibility ◽  
Precipitation Phenomena ◽  
Semiconductor Chips ◽  
Kinetics Of

Cu alloying in Al interconnection lines on semiconductor chips improves their resistance to electromigration and hillock growth. Excess Cu in Al can result in the formation of Cu-rich Al2Cu (θ) precipitates. These precipitates can significantly increase corrosion susceptibility due to the galvanic action between the θ-phase and the adjacent Cu-depleted matrix. The size and distribution of the θ-phase are also closely related to the film susceptibility to electromigration voiding. Thus, an important issue is the precipitation phenomena which occur during thermal device processing steps. In bulk alloys, it was found that the θ precipitates can grow via the grain boundary “collector plate mechanism” at rates far greater than allowed by volume diffusion. In a thin film, however, one might expect that the growth rate of a θ precipitate might be altered by interfacial diffusion. In this work, we report on the growth (lengthening) kinetics of the θ-phase in Al-Cu thin films as examined by in-situ isothermal aging in transmission electron microscopy (TEM).

Determination of Thermal Conductivity of Amorphous Silicon Thin Films via Non-Contacting Optical Probing

2006 ◽  
Vol 326-328 ◽  
pp. 689-692
Author(s):  
Seung Jae Moon
Keyword(s):  
Thin Film ◽  
Thin Films ◽  
Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Amorphous Silicon ◽  
Optical Transmission ◽  
Film Deposition ◽  
Transmission Measurement ◽  
Conductive Heat ◽  
Optical Transmission Measurement

The thermal conductivity of amorphous silicon (a-Si) thin films is determined by using the non-intrusive, in-situ optical transmission measurement. The thermal conductivity of a-Si is a key parameter in understanding the mechanism of the recrystallization of polysilicon (p-Si) during the laser annealing process to fabricate the thin film transistors with uniform characteristics which are used as switches in the active matrix liquid crystal displays. Since it is well known that the physical properties are dependent on the process parameters of the thin film deposition process, the thermal conductivity should be measured. The temperature dependence of the film complex refractive index is determined by spectroscopic ellipsometry. A nanosecond KrF excimer laser at the wavelength of 248 nm is used to raise the temperature of the thin films without melting of the thin film. In-situ transmission signal is obtained during the heating process. The acquired transmission signal is fitted with predictions obtained by coupling conductive heat transfer with multi-layer thin film optics in the optical transmission measurement.

Interfacial adhesion of nanoporous zeolite thin films

2006 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 505-511 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lili Hu ◽  
Junlan Wang ◽  
Zijian Li ◽  
Shuang Li ◽  
Yushan Yan
Keyword(s):  
Thin Film ◽  
Thin Films ◽  
Interfacial Adhesion ◽  
Interfacial Strength ◽  
Future Generation ◽  
In Situ Growth ◽  
Seeded Growth ◽  
Si Substrates ◽  
Film Substrate

Nanoporous silica zeolite thin films are promising candidates for future generation low-dielectric constant (low-k) materials. During the integration with metal interconnects, residual stresses resulting from the packaging processes may cause the low-k thin films to fracture or delaminate from the substrates. To achieve high-quality low-k zeolite thin films, it is important to carefully evaluate their adhesion performance. In this paper, a previously reported laser spallation technique is modified to investigate the interfacial adhesion of zeolite thin film-Si substrate interfaces fabricated using three different methods: spin-on, seeded growth, and in situ growth. The experimental results reported here show that seeded growth generates films with the highest measured adhesion strength (801 ± 68 MPa), followed by the in situ growth (324 ± 17 MPa), then by the spin-on (111 ± 29 MPa). The influence of the deposition method on film–substrate adhesion is discussed. This is the first time that the interfacial strength of zeolite thin films-Si substrates has been quantitatively evaluated. This paper is of great significance for the future applications of low-k zeolite thin film materials.

scholarly journals Thin film bi-epitaxy and transition characteristics of TiO2/TiN buffered VO2 on Si(100) substrates

MRS Advances ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (37) ◽  
pp. 2635-2640 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adele Moatti ◽  
Reza Bayati ◽  
Srinivasa Rao Singamaneni ◽  
Jagdish Narayan
Keyword(s):  
Thin Film ◽  
Thin Films ◽  
Magnetic Properties ◽  
Frequency Factor ◽  
Misfit Strain ◽  
Buffer Layers ◽  
Intrinsic Defects ◽  
Domain Matching Epitaxy ◽  
Out Of Plane

ABSTRACTBi-epitaxial VO2 thin films with [011] out-of-plane orientation were integrated with Si(100) substrates through TiO2/TiN buffer layers. At the first step, TiN is grown epitaxially on Si(100), where a cube-on-cube epitaxy is achieved. Then, TiN was oxidized in-situ ending up having epitaxial r-TiO2. Finally, VO2 was deposited on top of TiO2. The alignment across the interfaces was stablished as VO2(011)║TiO2(110)║TiN(100)║Si(100) and VO2(110) /VO2(010)║TiO2(011)║TiN(112)║Si(112). The inter-planar spacing of VO2(010) and TiO2(011) equal to 2.26 and 2.50 Å, respectively. This results in a 9.78% tensile misfit strain in VO2(010) lattice which relaxes through 9/10 alteration domains with a frequency factor of 0.5, according to the domain matching epitaxy paradigm. Also, the inter-planar spacing of VO2(011) and TiO2(011) equals to 3.19 and 2.50 Å, respectively. This results in a 27.6% compressive misfit strain in VO2(011) lattice which relaxes through 3/4 alteration domains with a frequency factor of 0.57. We studied semiconductor to metal transition characteristics of VO2/TiO2/TiN/Si heterostructures and established a correlation between intrinsic defects and magnetic properties.

The Elastic Moduli of Silver Thin Films Measured with a New Microtensile Tester

1991 ◽  
Vol 239 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Ruud ◽  
D. Josell ◽  
A. L. Greer ◽  
F. Spaepen
Keyword(s):  
Thin Film ◽  
Thin Films ◽  
Diffraction Grating ◽  
Strain Measurement ◽  
Elastic Moduli ◽  
Two Dimensional ◽  
Bulk Crystals ◽  
Free Standing ◽  
Tensile Direction ◽  
Silver Thin Films

ABSTRACTA new design for a thin film microtensile tester is presented. The strain is measured directly on the free-standing thin film from the displacement of laser spots diffracted from a thin grating applied to its surface by photolithography. The diffraction grating is two-dimensional, allowing strain measurement both along and transverse to the tensile direction. In principle, both Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio of a thin film can be determined. Ag thin films with strong <111> texture were tested. The measured Young moduli agreed with those measured on bulk crystals, but the measured Poisson ratios were low, most likely due to slight transverse folding of the film that developed during the test.

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