Stress and microstructure of nanocrystalline FeXN (X = Ta, Si, and Al) thin films

Stress measurements in nanocrystalline Ni electrodeposits

“…Residual stress has been measured in polycrystalline nickel [4], nanocrystalline nickel [5], nanocrystalline metals [6,7], nanocrystalline metal alloys [8,9] and nanocomposites [10] using various methods. For electrodeposited polycrystalline nickel the residual stress has been measured to be −130 MPa (compression) by X-ray diffraction (sin 2 Ψ method) [4].…”

“…Nanocrystalline nickel (9-25 nm) produced by DC magnetron sputtering under varied conditions (up to −100 V bias) was measured at 500-1000 MPa residual stress (tension) determined by a method involving the curvature change due to deposition in a Si-wafer cantilever beam [5]. DC magnetron sputtered nanocrystalline iron (7.7-16 nm) had a residual stress (tension) reported as 600 MPa which became increasing compressive for increasing alloy additions (Ta, Si, Al, and N) up to −900 MPa for composition Fe10%TaN using a Flexus 2320 thin-film stress measurement by way of cantilever beam wafer curvature change [6]. In another study, nanocrystalline Pd (6-17 nm) and Cu (6-34 nm) deposited by inert gas condensation was found to have a residual stress (compression) of −20 to −105 MPa for increasing depth below the surface using the sin 2 Ψ method [7].…”