Power-law scaling regimes for solid-state dewetting of thin films

Abstract

The capillary force drives the edges of solid thin films to retract. The distance a film edge has retracted over time is usually fitted to a power law. However, experiments and numerical simulations suggest that edge retraction does not follow a power-law. In this work, a simple geometric model for edge retraction is presented that reproduces the retraction distance versus time scalings of simulations for both isotropic and highly-anisotropic films, and is consistent with experiments. The earliest time at which a power-law fit becomes a reasonable approximation is calculated as a function of substrate-film contact angle.

All-Dielectric Color Filters Using SiGe-Based Mie Resonator Arrays

“…Another emerging method for the fabrication of MRs is solid state dewetting of monocrystalline SOI 23,24,25,26 type structures, consisting of ultra-thin (~10 nm) Si layers on a buried oxide (BOX) layer atop a silicon substrate. This method is suitable for application to large surfaces, at the expense of sacrificing the spatial organisation and fine control over the islands' dimensions 27,28 and relative positions.…”

Application of Onsager's variational principle to the dynamics of a solid toroidal island on a substrate

“…To our knowledge, the present work is the first demonstration of Onsager's variational principle for describing surface diffusion-controlled problems in materials science. We plan to use this principle to investigate more complicated phenomena, including analyzing Rayleigh instabilities of islands on substrates [1,11], the migration of "small" particles on curved substrates [54], and power-law scaling of a retracting semi-infinite thin film [55].…”

Power-law scaling for solid-state dewetting of thin films: an Onsager variational approach

“…Their solution, for the mass-conserving (while the BB solution does not conserve the mass) surface diffusion-controlled dewetting, reproduces the 2/5 power-law 22,32 of the retracting distance in the long-time limit. However, their solution is both complicated and approximate.…”

“…Experimental observations show that the edge retraction distance scales as the 2/5 power of time (at long time) 29,30 . While this power-law has been widely observed in numerical simulations of solid thin film dewetting 15,19,21 , rigorous theoretical analysis has remained elusive (despite reasonable approximate solutions 22,31 ).…”

“…Recent examples include the formation of ordered arrays of nanoparticles and quantum dots, which have been exploited to produce sensors 9,10 , optical and magnetic devices 9,11 and for catalysts for the growth of carbon and semiconductor nanotubes and nanowires 12,13 . Interest in such applications has driven research into the underlying mechanisms of solid-state dewetting [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] .…”