Thin Film Materials

Abstract

Thin film mechanical behavior and stress presents a technological challenge for materials scientists, physicists and engineers. This book provides a comprehensive coverage of the major issues and topics dealing with stress, defect formation, surface evolution and allied effects in thin film materials. Physical phenomena are examined from the continuum down to the sub-microscopic length scales, with the connections between the structure of the material and its behavior described. Theoretical concepts are underpinned by discussions on experimental methodology and observations. Fundamental scientific concepts are embedded through sample calculations, a broad range of case studies with practical applications, thorough referencing, and end of chapter problems. With solutions to problems available on-line, this book will be essential for graduate courses on thin films and the classic reference for researchers in the field.

Mechanical characterization of solution-derived nanoparticle silver ink thin films

“…This agrees very well with the literature value of 1.91 ppm/°C for pure Ag. 6 It is reasonable that the CTE remains the same and is not affected by the pores.…”

Competing failure mechanisms in thin films: Application to layer transfer

“…4,13 We will see that these processes can have catastrophic consequences because it can lead to film failure by bending. The conditions leading to buckling, delamination, and failure of the film produced by layer transfer and subjected to a compressive stress m are investigated in detail in Secs.…”

“…In addition, in first approximation, the fracture energy G c of the film/substrate interface is assumed to be constant and independent of the phase angle = arctan͑ K II K I ͒ of the stress acting on the interface. 4 …”

“…3͑b͒, and a stability analysis of the film provides expression for the critical stress. 4 Consider now that the film is submitted to a given compressive stress m . One can use this expression to show that buckling will occur if the delamination zone is larger than a critical size a b , where…”

“…For sufficiently large buckling zones, G might reach G c and the interfacial crack can propagate. To assess the critical size a p that allows a buckling pattern to propagate, one can derive the value of the energy release rate for a buckled zone of length 2a, 4 FIG. 3.…”