In situ transmission electron microscopy study of irradiation induced dewetting of ultrathin Pt films

Irradiation induced dewetting of 3–10 nm Pt thin films from SiO2 and SiNx substrates is studied using real-time in situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Fissures in the initial films form dry patches, which serve as nuclei for the dewetting process. Upon 800 keV Kr++ irradiation, the dry patc...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of applied physics 2003-01, Vol.93 (1), p.165-169
Main Authors: Hu, Xiaoyuan, Cahill, David G., Averback, Robert S., Birtcher, Robert C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
COALESCENCE
CRACKS
DOSES
GROWTH
IRRADIATION
MATERIALS SCIENCE
MELTING
NUCLEI
PLATINUM
SILICON NITRIDES
SILICON OXIDES
SUBSTRATES
SURFACE ENERGY
THERMAL SPIKES
THICKNESS
THIN FILMS
TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
VELOCITY
WIDTH
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Irradiation induced dewetting of 3–10 nm Pt thin films from SiO2 and SiNx substrates is studied using real-time in situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Fissures in the initial films form dry patches, which serve as nuclei for the dewetting process. Upon 800 keV Kr++ irradiation, the dry patches undergo filling-in, growth and coalescence. The dose range for these three stages of dewetting depends on the film thickness. Due to the effects of line tension, the growth of fissures is anisotropic, turning elongated fissures into rounded ones. The evolution of the area and width of individual fissures was extracted from a sequence of TEM images for 3 nm Pt/SiO2 under 800 keV Kr++ irradiation. We calculate the average velocity of receding contact lines to be ∼0.55±0.2 m/s during the thermal spike.
ISSN:0021-8979
1089-7550
DOI:10.1063/1.1527712