Mechanical and Electrical Performance of Thermally Stable Au-ZnO films

Journal Article · Sat Mar 28 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Scripta Materialia

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2015.03.024· OSTI ID:1235278

Schoeppner, Rachel L. ^[1]; Goeke, Ronald S. ^[2]; Moody, Neville R. ^[3]; Bahr, David F. ^[4]

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1. Washington State Univ., Pullman, WA (United States)
2. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
3. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States)
4. Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States)

The mechanical properties, thermal stability, and electrical performance of Au–ZnO composite thin films are determined in this work. The co-deposition of ZnO with Au via physical vapor deposition leads to grain refinement over that of pure Au; the addition of 0.1 vol.% ZnO reduces the as-grown grain size by over 30%. The hardness of the as-grown films doubles with 2% ZnO, from 1.8 to 3.6 GPa as measured by nanoindentation. Films with ZnO additions greater than 0.5% show no significant grain growth after annealing at 350 °C, while pure gold and smaller additions do exhibit grain growth and subsequent mechanical softening. Films with 1% and 2% ZnO show a decrease of approximately 50% in electrical resistivity and no change in hardness after annealing. A model accounting for both changes in the interface structure between dispersed ZnO particles and the Au matrix captures the changes in mechanical and electrical resistivity. Furthermore, the addition of 1–2% ZnO co-deposited with Au provides a method to create mechanically hard and thermally stable films with a resistivity less than 80 nΩ-m. Our results complement previous studies of other alloying systems, suggesting oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) gold shows a desirable hardness–resistivity relationship that is relatively independent of the particular ODS chemistry.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC04-94AL85000
• OSTI ID: 1235278
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 1433395
• Report Number(s): SAND2015--6276J; 606261
• Journal Information: Scripta Materialia, Journal Name: Scripta Materialia Vol. 91; ISSN 1359-6462
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
annealing
electrical resistivity
nanoindentation
oxide dispersion strengthening