Abstract
Nanostructured metal thin films have been shown to have unique thermal, mechanical, and electrical properties when the internal structure can be maintained. However, this far-from-equilibrium structure has been shown in many cases to be unstable at elevated temperatures. This work investigates the role of surface ledges, large nickel inclusions, electron beam exposure and film thickness on the evolution of high purity, pulsed-laser deposited, free-standing, nickel films via in situ transmission electron microscopy annealing. Grain growth appeared enhanced in a limited temperature range near surface ledges present in the film, but was not affected by large nickel inclusions. In addition, extended exposure to the electron beam resulted in abnormal grain growth. This was hypothesized to be a result of enhanced nickel oxide growth on the surfaces. Finally, increasing film thickness was observed to accelerate the onset of abnormal grain growth and increased the size and number of larger grains. These observations should provide warning that the initial and dynamic surface present in thin films should be taken under consideration during any annealing study, as it may significantly impact the final crystalline structure.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
R. Brandt, G. Abbruzzese, and K. Luecke, “Normal and abnormal grain growth and particularly the behaviour of large and small grains as predicted by simulations on the basis of the statistical model,” Materials Science Forum Proceedings of the 1995 2nd International Conference on Grain Growth in Polycrystalline Materials. Part 1, May 17–20 1995, vol. 204–206, pp. 295–301, 1996.
G. D. Hibbard, K. T. Aust, and U. Erb, “On interfacial velocities during abnormal grain growth at ultra-high driving forces,” Journal of Materials Science, vol. 43, pp. 6441–6452, Oct 2008.
P. R. Rios and M. E. Glicksman, “Abnormal grain growth topology and kinetics,” in THERMEC 2006, Pts 1–5. vol. 539–543, T. Chandra, K. Tsuzaki, M. Militzer, and C. Ravindran, Eds., ed, 2007, pp. 2401–2406.
J. A. Knapp and D. M. Follstaedt, “Hall-Petch relationship in pulsed-laser deposited nickel films,” Journal of Materials Research, vol. 19, pp. 218–227, Jan 2004.
J. R. Trelewicz and C. A. Schuh, “Hot nanoindentation of nanocrystalline Ni-W alloys,” Scripta Materialia, vol. 61, pp. 1056–1059, Dec 2009.
G. D. Hibbard, J. L. McCrea, G. Palumbo, K. T. Aust, and U. Erb, “An initial analysis of mechanisms leading to late stage abnormal grain growth in nanocrystalline Ni,” Scripta Materialia, vol. 47, pp. 83–87, Jul 22 2002.
G. D. Hibbard, V. Radmilovic, K. T. Aust, and U. Erb, “Grain boundary migration during abnormal grain growth in nanocrystalline Ni,” Materials Science and Engineering a, vol. 494, pp. 232–238, Oct 25 2008.
L. N. Brewer, D. M. Follstaedt, K. Hattar, J. A. Knapp, M. A. Rodriguez, and I. M. Robertson, “Competitive Abnormal Grain Growth between Allotropic Phases in Nanocrystalline Nickel,” Advanced Materials, vol. 22, pp. 1161–1164, Mar 12 2010.
K. Hattar, D. M. Follstaedt, J. A. Knapp, and I. M. Robertson, “Defect structures created during abnormal grain growth in pulsed-laser deposited nickel,” Acta Materialia, vol. 56, pp. 794–801, Feb 2008.
J. Kacher, I. Robertson, M. Nowell, J. Knapp, and K. Hattar, “Study of rapid grain boundary migration in a nanocrystalline Ni thin film,” Materials Science and Engineering: A, vol. 528, pp. 1628–1635, 2011.
J. Kacher, P. Elizaga, S. D. House, K. Hattar, M. Nowell, and I. Robertson, “Thermal stability of Ni/NiO multilayers,” Materials Science and Engineering: A, vol. 568, pp. 49–60, 2013.
S. Rajasekhar, K. J. Ganesh, K. Hattar, J. A. Knapp, and P. J. Ferreira, “Evidence of metastable hcp phase grains in as-deposited nanocrystalline nickel films,” Scripta Materialia, vol. 67, pp. 189–192, Jul 2012.
B. Muntifering, S. J. Blair, C. Gong, A. Dunn, R. Dingreville, J. Qu, and K. Hattar, “Cavity Evolution at Grain Boundaries as a Function of Radiation Damage and Thermal Conditions in Nanocrystalline Nickel,” Materials Research Letters, pp. 1–8, 2015.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 TMS (The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society)
About this paper
Cite this paper
Hattar, K., Miller, B., Robertson, I.M., Kacher, J. (2016). Thickness and Surface Effects on Abnormal Grain Growth in Nanocrystalline Nickel Films. In: Holm, E.A., et al. Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Recrystallization and Grain Growth (ReX&GG 2016). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48770-0_37
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48770-0_37
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-48626-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-48770-0
eBook Packages: Chemistry and Materials ScienceChemistry and Material Science (R0)