Investigation of structural properties of ITO thin films deposited on different substrates

The influence of the substrate nature on the structure and morphology of ITO thin films grown by thermal evaporation in vacuum is investigated. The as-prepared metal films with Sn/In molar ratio of 0.1 were subsequently annealed for 2 h at 723 K in air (to obtain tin doped indium oxide), then annealed in vacuum at 523 K, followed by UV irradiation (to reduce the electrical resistivity). Irrespective of substrate nature, XRD data evidence a (222) preferential orientation in films. Substrate nature, annealing in vacuum and UV irradiation influence the structure, morphology, optical, electrical and surface wetting properties of the films' surface.     

Advanced resonant ultrasound spectroscopy for measuring anisotropic elastic constants of thin films

This paper presents an advanced resonant ultrasound spectroscopy (RUS) method to determine the elastic constants C_ij of thin films. Polycrystalline thin films often exhibit elastic anisotropy between the film growth direction and the in‐plane direction, and they macroscopically show five independent elastic constants. Because all of the C_ij of a deposited thin film affect the mechanical resonance frequencies of the film/substrate layer specimen, measuring resonance frequencies enables one to determine the C_ij of the film with known density, dimensions and the C_ij of the substrate. Resonance frequencies have to be measured accurately because of low sensitivity of the C_ij of films to them. We achieved this by a piezoelectric tripod. Mode identification has to be made unambiguously. We made this measuring displacement–amplitude distributions on the resonated specimen surface by laser Doppler interferometry. We applied our technique to copper thin film and diamond thin film. They show elastic anisotropy and the C_ij smaller than bulk values of C_ij. Micromechanics calculations indicate the presence of incohesive bonded regions.     

Second-order effects on the wave propagation in elastic, isotropic, incompressible, and homogeneous media

In this paper we propose a perturbation method to investigate the propagation of the ordinary waves in second-order elastic, isotropic, incompressible, and homogeneous materials. This method allows us to determine the first-order terms of the speeds and the amplitudes both of the principal waves and the waves in any propagation direction, when the undisturbed region is subjected to an arbitrary isochoric deformation. Another application of this method is presented when the undisturbed region is subjected to a simple shear. Finally, some numerical results are presented in Mooney-Rivlin materials.     

Acoustic wave propagation in Laves-phase compounds

We have studied the acoustic wave propagation in the hexagonal structured materials TiCr₂, ZrCr₂ and HfCr₂. In this paper, we have calculated the orientation dependence of three types of acoustic wave velocity and Debye average velocity using second order elastic constants. The six second order elastic constants are calculated for these materials at 300 K using Lenard-Jones Potential. An anomalous behaviour in orientation dependent acoustic wave velocity is obtained which is due to the combined effect of elastic constants and density. These velocity data are important for their structural information and to differentiate them from third group nitrides.     

Numerical modelling of elastic wave scattering in frequency domain by the partition of unity finite element method

In this paper, we investigate a numerical approach based on the partition of unity finite element method, for the time‐harmonic elastic wave equations. The aim of the proposed work is to accurately model two‐dimensional elastic wave problems with fewer elements, capable of containing many wavelengths per nodal spacing, and without refining the mesh at each frequency. The approximation of the displacement field is performed via the standard finite element shape functions, enriched by superimposing pressure and shear plane wave basis, which incorporate knowledge of the wave propagation. A variational framework able to handle mixed boundary conditions is described. Numerical examples dealing with the radiation and the scattering of elastic waves by a circular body are presented. The results show the performance of the proposed method in both accuracy and efficiency. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Thermal strain in indium thin films deposited on GaAs substrates

Thermal strains in indium thin films deposited on GaAs substrates, which were introduced into the films upon cooling from 293 to 25 K, were measured using the conventional X-ray diffraction technique. Since the thermal expansion coefficients and the elastic constants of indium have strong dependences on the crystal orientation, we studied intensively the crystal orientation dependence of the strains perpendicular to the film surface. The strains measured for films with 60 nm thickness agreed well with those calculated based on a biaxial strain model using the difference in thermal expansions between the indium and the GaAs. The present strain analysis indicated that the anisotropy in the thermal expansion of indium is the prinary cause of different strains measured in grains with various crystal orientations. For the thicker films the strains were observed to deviate from the theoretical values owing to strain relaxation upon cooling.     

Normal zone propagation along superconducting films deposited on wide substrates

The propagation of a normal zone in a long superconducting film on a dielectric or conducting substrate is studied analytically. The obtained expressions for the normal zone propagation velocity allow to analyze the effect of the thermal resistance between the film and substrate and the width of the substrate. The results are expanded into the cases of the normal zone propagation in a meander and in parallel films.     

Quality improvement of organic thin films deposited on vibrating substrates

Most of the Organic Light-Emitting Diodes (OLEDs) have a multilayered structure composed of functional organic layers sandwiched between two electrodes. Thin films of small molecules are generally deposited by thermal evaporation onto glass or other rigid or flexible substrates. The interface state between two organic layers in OLED device depends on the surface morphology of the layers and affects deeply the OLED performance. The morphology of organic thin films depends mostly on substrate temperature and deposition rate. Generally, the control of the substrate temperature allows improving the quality of the deposited films. For organic compounds substrate temperature cannot be increased too much due to their poor thermal stability. However, studies in inorganic thin films indicate that it is possible to modify the morphology of a film by using substrate vibration without increasing the substrate temperature. In this work, the effect of the resonance vibration of glass and silicon substrates during thermal deposition in high vacuum environment of tris(8-quinolinolate)aluminum(III) (Alq₃) and N,N′-Bis(naphthalene-2-yl)-N,N′-bis(phenyl)-benzidine (β-NPB) organic thin films with different deposition rates was investigated. The vibration used was in the range of hundreds of Hz and the substrates were kept at room temperature during the process. The nucleation and subsequent growth of the organic films on the substrates have been studied by atomic force microscopy technique. For Alq₃ and β-NPB films grown with 0.1 nm/s as deposition rate and using a frequency of 100 Hz with oscillation amplitude of some micrometers, the results indicate a reduction of cluster density and a roughness decreasing. Moreover, OLEDs fabricated with organic films deposited under these conditions improved their power efficiency, driven at 4 mA/cm², passing from 0.11 lm/W to 0.24 lm/W with an increase in their luminance of about 352 cd/m² corresponding to an increase of about 250% in the luminance with respect to the same OLEDs fabricated in the same way and with the same conditions without substrate vibration.     

Numerical modelling of the scattering of elastic waves in plates

This paper describes the application of finite difference methods to the calculation of the scattering of elastic waves. The emphasis is on cracklike defects in plates, and it is shown that a common numerical technique can span a range of wavelengths from Lamb waves to ultrasonic waves with many reflections from the surfaces of the plate. Quantitative results are given for the scattering of Lamb waves and ultrasonic shear waves from surface-breaking cracks.     

Elastic stress transmission in cellular systems—Analysis of wave propagation

A closely packed array of thin-walled rings constitutes an idealisation of a cellular structure. Elastic waves propagating through such structures must do so via the ring (cell) walls. A theoretical investigation into the propagation of elastic stresses in thin-walled circular rings is undertaken to examine the nature of wave transmission. Three modes of motion, corresponding to shear, extensional and flexural waves, are established and their respective velocities defined by a cubic characteristic equation. The results show that all three waves are dispersive. By neglecting extension of the centroidal axis and rotary inertia, explicit approximate solutions can be obtained for flexural waves. Employment of Love's approach for extensional waves [Love AEH. A treatise on the mathematical theory of elasticity, 4th ed. New York: Dover Publications; 1944. p. 452–3] enables approximate solutions for shear waves to be derived. The three resulting approximate solutions exhibit good agreement with the exact solutions of the characteristic equation over a wide range of wavelengths. The effects of material property, ring wall thickness and ring diameter on the three wave modes are discussed, and the results point to flexural waves as the dominant means of elastic energy transmission in such cellular structures. Wave velocities corresponding to different frequency components determined from experimental results are compared with theoretical predictions of group velocity for flexural waves and good correlation between experimental data and theory affirms this conclusion.     

Characterization of transparent conducting oxide thin films deposited on ceramic substrates

In this work, we investigate the optical and electrical properties of various transparent conductive oxide (TCO) thin films deposited on insulating ceramics for emerging optoelectronic applications. Thin films investigated include indium tin oxide (ITO), ruthenium oxide (RuO₂), and iridium oxide (IrO₂) on Al₂O₃ ceramic substrates. The conducting films have been deposited by various techniques including RF magnetron sputtering and low-cost spray pyrolysis. The morphological characteristics of the films were carried out using high magnification optical microscopy and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Optical and electrical characterization was carried out by optical absorbance/transmittance, van der Pauw, current-voltage (I-V), and Hall effect measurements. The results are presented in this paper.     

Transform techniques for analysis of thermal wave propagation in anisotropic composite materials

A general formulation for solving the three-dimensional thermal diffusion equation in anisotropic media is presented. The method is based on two-dimensional Fourier transform techniques and can provide a physical insight into the problem. The analysis can easily be adapted to take into account arbitrary spatial variations of the excitation beam (i.e., a laser or an electron beam). Results obtained from propagation of thermal waves in composites are presented and followed by simulations for cases where the source function is defined. Propagation through an anisotropic slab is formulated and applied to specific cases.     

The effect of a bump on wave propagation in a fluid-filled elastic tube

In the present work, treating the arteries as a thin walled prestressed elastic tube with variable cross-section, and using the longwave approximation, we have studied the propagation of weakly nonlinear waves in such a fluid-filled elastic tube by employing the reductive perturbation method. By considering the blood as an incompressible viscous fluid the evolution equation is obtained as the perturbed Korteweg-de Vries equation with variable coefficients. It is shown that this type of equations admit a solitary wave type of solution with variable wave speed. It is observed that, the wave speed gets smaller and smaller as we go away from the center of the bump. The wave speed reaches to its maximum value at the center of the bump.     

Thermal stability of silver thin films on zirconia substrates

The thermal stability of silver thin films between 100 nm and 820 nm thick deposited onto single crystal yttria-stabilised zirconia (YSZ) substrates by evaporation was investigated by annealing the films between 250 °C and 550 °C for different durations. Films approximately 100 nm thick were thermally unstable at temperatures as low as 250 °C. A dewetting process occurred in which grain boundaries ruptured, to uncover the substrate and reduce the overall energy of the system, by a combination of grain boundary grooving at the outer surface and void growth at the Ag-YSZ interface. The surface self diffusion coefficient of Ag was determined from the kinetics of the process to be 2.6 ± 0.3 × 10^− 5 cm²s^− 1 at 500 °C. The resulting silver morphology ranged from ‘self-organised’ interconnected silver network structures to completely isolated silver islands. A structure predominance map of the rearrangement process is presented.     

弹性杆纵波弥散效应数值分析

弹性杆中的纵波弥散效应一直是力学界研究的热点问题之一。本文基于Hamiltonian体系变分原     

Thermal dewetting of thin Au films deposited onto line-patterned substrates

Au films are deposited onto line-patterned substrates, and the dewetting of the line-shaped films is studied. The results show that the line-patterned substrates can clearly lead to both, a decrease and an increase in the resulting particle size and particle spacing when compared to dewetting occurring on a flat substrate. The size and the spacing of the dewetted Au particles scale with the feature size of the line-shaped films in a Rayleigh-like way, but this scaling law ceases when the ratio of line width to film thickness reaches or exceeds a critical value.     

Elasto-plastic properties of gold thin films deposited onto polymeric substrates

This work examines mechanical properties of 50–300 nm gold thin films deposited onto micrometer-thick flexible polymer substrates by means of tensile testing of the film–substrate system and modeling. The film properties are extracted from mechanical testing of the film–substrate system and modeling of the bimaterial. Unlike materials in bulk geometry, the film elastic modulus and yield strength present an important dependence with film thickness, with modulus and yield strength of about 520 and 30 GPa, respectively, for the thinner films and decreasing toward the bulk value as the film thickness increases. The relation between grain size, film thickness, and yield strength is examined. Finite element analysis provides further insight into the stress distribution in the film–substrate system. L. Llanes—MS student at ITM, Merida, Mexico.     

Surface waves in fibre-reinforced anisotropic elastic media

The aim of this paper is to investigate surface waves in anisotropic fibre-reinforced solid elastic media. First, the theory of general surface waves has been derived and applied to study the particular cases of surface waves — Rayleigh, Love and Stoneley types. The wave velocity equations are found to be in agreement with the corresponding classical result when the anisotropic elastic parameters tends to zero. It is important to note that the Rayleigh type of wave velocity in the fibre-reinforced elastic medium increases to a considerable amount in comparison with the Rayleigh wave velocity in isotropic materials.     

Concomitant wrinkling and buckle-delamination of elastic thin films on compliant substrates

Compressing a thin elastic film attached to a thick compliant substrate can lead to buckling instability. Two commonly observed buckling modes, buckle-delamination and wrinkling, have each been analyzed separately in previous studies. Recent experiments have observed that the two modes can co-exist and co-evolve. In this paper, by analytical and finite element methods, we present a study on concomitant wrinkling and buckle-delamination for an elastic film on a highly compliant substrate. First, without delamination, we present an analytical solution for wrinkling that takes into account the effect of Poisson’s ratio of the substrate. In comparison with a nonlinear finite element analysis, an approximate formula is derived to estimate the normal traction at the interface and to predict initiation of wrinkle-induced delamination. Next, with a pre-existing delamination crack, the critical strain for the onset of buckling instability is predicted by finite element eigenvalue analysis. For an intermediate delamination size, a mixed buckling mode is predicted with the critical compressive strain lower than previous solutions for both wrinkling and buckle-delamination. Post-buckling analyses show a significant shear-lag effect with an effective load transfer length three orders of magnitude greater than the film thickness. Finally, concomitant wrinkling and buckle-delamination is simulated to illustrate the interaction between the two buckling modes, and the results are discussed in view of failure mechanisms and applications in thin film metrology.