R. Raghavan; J. M. Wheeler; D. Esqué-de los Ojos; K. Thomas; E. Almandoz; G. G. Fuentes; J. Michler
Materials Science and Engineering A 620 (2015) 375-382
The deformation and failure mechanism of a multilayered thin film consisting of alternating soft Cu and hard TiN interlayers has been studied by in situ SEM compression of micro-pillars and finite element simulations. While the yielding of the multilayer is governed by the ‘size-dependent’ strength of Cu, the failure was found to occur by shearing of the columnar grains of TiN. At elevated temperatures of 200 and 400. °C, the yielding of the multilayers is governed by the stress-assisted diffusion of the Cu interlayers, which coalesce into microcrystals and grow into larger faceted crystals.