The evolution of the spacing and character of misfit dislocations, with increasing Ni overlayer thickness at an (001)Ni/Cu interface, was studied. At low Ni overlayer thicknesses (3 and 5nm), most of the interface dislocations were 60° ½<110> glide dislocations, while Lomer edge dislocations made up only some 5% of the total interface dislocation content. At a 13nm-Ni overlayer thickness, the fraction of Lomer dislocations increased to approximately 40% of the total content. This marked increase in the fraction of Lomer dislocations was probably related to a so-called rebound mechanism which began at some critical thickness between 5 and 13nm.

Influence of Overlayer Thickness on the Density of Lomer Dislocations in Nanoscale Ni–Cu Bilayer Thin Films. D.Mitlin, A.Misra, T.E.Mitchell, R.G.Hoagland, J.P.Hirth: Applied Physics Letters, 2004, 85[10], 1686-8