Control of Grain Boundary Microstructures in Sputtered Gold Thin Films by Surface Energy-Driven Grain Growth

Abstract:

The evolution of grain boundary microstructures in gold thin films during annealing was investigated in order to find a clue to the development of high performance thin films by grain boundary engineering. The {111} oriented grains with the lowest surface energy were preferentially grown by surface energy-driven grain growth during annealing. The sharp {111} texture was developed by annealing at the temperature more than 873K. The remarkably high fraction of low-Σ coincidence site lattice (CSL) boundaries occurred when the area fraction of {111} texture increased to more than 95%. In particular, the fraction of some low-Σ CSL boundaries (Σ1,Σ3,Σ7) for the most sharply {111} textured specimen was found to be one order higher than those predicted for a random polycrystal. The utility of grain boundary engineering is discussed for controlling the performance degradation caused by the percolation phenomena of grain boundary diffusion in gold thin films.

• Periodical: Materials Science Forum (Volumes 706-709)
• Pages: 2880-2885
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/MSF.706-709.2880
• Online since: January 2012
• Authors: Shigeaki Kobayashi, Ryouta Fukasawa, Tadao Watanabe
• Keywords: Gold Thin Film, Grain Boundary Character Distribution, Surface Energy-Driven Grain Growth, Texture, Triple Junction Distribution

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