High-temperature residual stresses in thin films characterized by x-ray diffraction substrate curvature method

Development of a synchrotron biaxial tensile device for in situ characterization of thin films mechanical response

We have developed on the DIFFABS-SOLEIL beamline a biaxial tensile machine working in the synchrotron environment for in situ diffraction characterization of thin polycrystalline films mechanical response. The machine has been designed to test compliant substrates coated by the studied films under controlled, applied strain field. Technological challenges comprise the sample design including fixation of the substrate ends, the related generation of a uniform strain field in the studied (central) volume, and the operations from the beamline pilot. Preliminary tests on 150 nm thick W films deposited onto polyimide cruciform substrates are presented. The obtained results for applied strains using x-ray diffraction and digital image correlation methods clearly show the full potentialities of this new setup.

Elastic constants of fibre-textured thin films determined by X-ray diffraction

A new methodology is presented that allows the rapid determination of elastic constants of cubic fibre-textured thin films by X-ray diffraction. The theoretical concept is developed and tested on calculated examples of Cu and CrN films. The mechanical elastic constants are extrapolated from X-ray elastic constants by taking into consideration crystal and macroscopic elastic anisotropy. The derived algorithm enables the determination of a reflection and the corresponding value of the X-ray anisotropic factor Γ for which the X-ray elastic constants are equal to their mechanical counterparts in the case of fibre-textured cubic polycrystalline aggregates. The approach is independent of the crystal elastic anisotropy and depends on the fibre-texture type, the texture sharpness, the number of randomly oriented crystallites and the supposed grain-interaction model. In the experimental part, out-of-plane Young's moduli of 111 and 311 fibre-textured Cu and CrN thin films deposited on monocrystalline Si(100) substrates are determined. The moduli are extrapolated from thin-film experimental X-ray elastic constants that are determined by a combination of X-ray diffraction substrate curvature and sin(2)ψ methods. For the calculation, the film macroscopic elastic anisotropy (texture) is considered. The advantage of the new technique lies in the fact that experimental moduli are determined nondestructively, using a static diffraction experiment, and represent volume-averaged quantities.