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Damage Behavior of 200-nm Thin Copper Films Under Cyclic Loading

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2011

G.P. Zhang
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institut für Metallforschung, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany; and Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, People’s Republic of China
C.A. Volkert
Affiliation:
Institut für Materialforschung II, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, D-76021 Karlsruhe, Germany
R. Schwaiger
Affiliation:
Institut für Materialforschung II, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, D-76021 Karlsruhe, Germany
E. Arzt
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institut für Metallforschung, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany
O. Kraft
Affiliation:
Institut für Materialforschung II, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, D-76021 Karlsruhe, Germany
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Abstract

Fatigue damage in 200-nm-thick Cu films was investigated and compared with the damage in thicker Cu films. The fatigued 200-nm-thick Cu films exhibited only a few, small extrusions and extensive cracking along twin and grain boundaries, whereas the thicker films showed many extrusions/intrusions and cracks lying along the extrusions rather than along the boundaries. This change in fatigue damage behavior with film thickness is attributed to the inhibition of dislocation mobility and the limited availability and activation of dislocation sources on the small length scale. It is argued that the decrease in film thickness and grain size inhibits the localized accumulation of plastic strain within grains, such as at extrusions/intrusions and in extended dislocation structures, and promotes the formation of damage such as cracks at twin and grain boundaries during fatigue. This effect is suggested as the likely cause for the increase in fatigue life with decreasing specimen dimensions.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2004

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