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Mechanical Properties of Multilayered Copper-Nickel thin films Measured by Indentation Techniques

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 February 2011

T. E. Schlesinger
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218
R. C. Cammarata
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218
C. Kim
Affiliation:
Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, D.C. 20375
S. B. Qadri
Affiliation:
Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, D.C. 20375
A. S. Edelstein
Affiliation:
Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, D.C. 20375
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Abstract

Artificially multilayered copper/nickel thin films with bilayer repeat lengths between 1.6 and 12 nm were produced by ion beam sputtering. The mechanical properties of these films were investigated by low load microhardness and nanoindentation (force versus depth) techniques. It was found that none of the films displayed bilayer repeat length dependent enhanced elastic behavior (the supermodulus effect) as measured during unloading in the nanoindenter. However, enhancements in hardness, as measured by both the nanoindenter and the low load microhardness tester, were observed in films with small bilayer repeat lengths. These measurements displayed a Hall-Petch-type relationship, using the individual layer thickness (equal to half the bilayer repeat length) as the characteristic “grain size.” This hardness behavior can be understood in terms of a mechanism involving dislocation pinning at the interfaces analogous to the mechanism of grain boundary hardening.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1990

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References

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