Compositionally-Driven Formation Mechanism of Hierarchical Morphologies in Co-Deposited Immiscible Alloy Thin Films

Powers, Max; Stewart, James A.; Dingreville, Rémi; Derby, Benjamin K.; Misra, Amit

doi:10.3390/nano11102635

Compositionally-Driven Formation Mechanism of Hierarchical Morphologies in Co-Deposited Immiscible Alloy Thin Films

Journal Article · Fri Oct 08 00:00:00 EDT 2021 · Nanomaterials

DOI:https://doi.org/10.3390/nano11102635· OSTI ID:1825244

^[1]; Stewart, James A. ^[2]; ^[2]; ^[3]; ^[4]

Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States); Texas A&M University
Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)

Co-deposited, immiscible alloy systems form hierarchical microstructures under specific deposition conditions that accentuate the difference in constituent element mobility. The mechanism leading to the formation of these unique hierarchical morphologies during the deposition process is difficult to identify, since the characterization of these microstructures is typically carried out post-deposition. We employ phase-field modeling to study the evolution of microstructures during deposition combined with microscopy characterization of experimentally deposited thin films to reveal the origin of the formation mechanism of hierarchical morphologies in co-deposited, immiscible alloy thin films. Our results trace this back to the significant influence of a local compositional driving force that occurs near the surface of the growing thin film. We show that local variations in the concentration of the vapor phase near the surface, resulting in nuclei (i.e., a cluster of atoms) on the film’s surface with an inhomogeneous composition, can trigger the simultaneous evolution of multiple concentration modulations across multiple length scales, leading to hierarchical morphologies. We show that locally, the concentration must be above a certain threshold value in order to generate distinct hierarchical morphologies in a single domain.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

Grant/Contract Number:: NA0003857

OSTI ID:: 1825244

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1827614
OSTI ID: 1974984

Journal Information:: Nanomaterials, Journal Name: Nanomaterials Journal Issue: 10 Vol. 11; ISSN 2079-4991

Publisher:: MDPICopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (28)

Kinetic Pathways of Phase Transformations in Two-Phase Ti Alloys Heo, Tae Wook; Shih, Donald S.; Chen, Long-Qing Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A, Vol. 45, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11661-014-2269-2	journal	April 2014
Stress-related effects in thin films Thornton, John A.; Hoffman, D. W. Thin Solid Films, Vol. 171, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1016/0040-6090(89)90030-8	journal	April 1989
Spinodal decomposition in a small radially stressed sphere Johnson, W. C. Acta Materialia, Vol. 49, Issue 17 https://doi.org/10.1016/S1359-6454(01)00255-5	journal	October 2001
Microstructure morphology and concentration modulation of nanocomposite thin-films during simulated physical vapor deposition Stewart, James A.; Dingreville, Rémi Acta Materialia, Vol. 188 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2020.02.011	journal	April 2020
A data-driven surrogate model to rapidly predict microstructure morphology during physical vapor deposition Herman, Elizabeth; Stewart, James A.; Dingreville, Rémi Applied Mathematical Modelling, Vol. 88 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apm.2020.06.046	journal	December 2020
Study of nanoclusters growth at initial stages of ultrathin film deposition by kinetic modeling Galdikas, Arvaidas Applied Surface Science, Vol. 254, Issue 13 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2007.12.032	journal	April 2008
Self-assembled metal nano-multilayered film prepared by co-sputtering method Xie, Tianle; Fu, Licai; Qin, Wen Applied Surface Science, Vol. 435 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2017.11.049	journal	March 2018
Composition-driven transition from amorphous to crystalline films enables bottom-up design of functional surfaces Borroto, A.; García-Wong, A. C.; Bruyère, S. Applied Surface Science, Vol. 538 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2020.148133	journal	February 2021
Phase-field models for simulating physical vapor deposition and grain evolution of isotropic single-phase polycrystalline thin films Stewart, James A.; Spearot, Douglas E. Computational Materials Science, Vol. 123 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.commatsci.2016.06.021	journal	October 2016
Determination of diffusion coefficients in immiscible systems: Cu W as an example Langer, G. A.; Erdélyi, G.; Erdélyi, Z. Materialia, Vol. 6 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtla.2019.100342	journal	June 2019
Phase formation and phase separation in multiphase thin film hard coatings Krzanowski, James E. Surface and Coatings Technology, Vol. 188-189 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.surfcoat.2004.08.028	journal	November 2004
Magnetron sputter deposition as visualized by Monte Carlo modeling Depla, D.; Leroy, W. P. Thin Solid Films, Vol. 520, Issue 20 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsf.2012.06.032	journal	August 2012
Effects of substrate temperature and deposition rate on the phase separated morphology of co-sputtered, Cu-Mo thin films Derby, B.; Cui, Y.; Baldwin, J. K. Thin Solid Films, Vol. 647 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsf.2017.12.013	journal	February 2018
Phase separation during film growth Atzmon, M.; Kessler, D. A.; Srolovitz, D. J. Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 72, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.351872	journal	July 1992
Monte Carlo simulation of phase separation during thin‐film codeposition Adams, C. D.; Srolovitz, D. J.; Atzmon, M. Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 74, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.354825	journal	August 1993
3-D phase-field simulations of self-organized composite morphologies in physical vapor deposited phase-separating binary alloys Ankit, Kumar; Derby, Benjamin; Raghavan, Rahul Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 126, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5110410	journal	August 2019
Suppression of shear banding in high-strength Cu/Mo nanocomposites with hierarchical bicontinuous intertwined structures Cui, Yuchi; Derby, Benjamin; Li, Nan Materials Research Letters, Vol. 6, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1080/21663831.2018.1431315	journal	December 2017
Processing of novel pseudomorphic Cu–Mo hierarchies in thin films Derby, Benjamin; Cui, Yuchi; Baldwin, JonKevin Materials Research Letters, Vol. 7, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1080/21663831.2018.1546237	journal	November 2018
The metal flux from a rotating cylindrical magnetron: a Monte Carlo simulation Van Aeken, K.; Mahieu, S.; Depla, D. Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, Vol. 41, Issue 20 https://doi.org/10.1088/0022-3727/41/20/205307	journal	October 2008
Microstructure Map for Self-Organized Phase Separation during Film Deposition Lu, Yong; Wang, Cuiping; Gao, Yipeng Physical Review Letters, Vol. 109, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.086101	journal	August 2012
Hierarchical morphologies in co-sputter deposited thin films Powers, Max; Derby, Benjamin; Nerlige Manjunath, Sudeep Physical Review Materials, Vol. 4, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.4.123801	journal	December 2020
Influence of apparatus geometry and deposition conditions on the structure and topography of thick sputtered coatings Thornton, John A. Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology, Vol. 11, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1116/1.1312732	journal	July 1974
Microstructural evolution during film growth Petrov, I.; Barna, P. B.; Hultman, L. Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A: Vacuum, Surfaces, and Films, Vol. 21, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1116/1.1601610	journal	September 2003
Grain Growth in Thin Films Thompson, C. V. Annual Review of Materials Science, Vol. 20, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.ms.20.080190.001333	journal	August 1990
Phase separation during co-deposition of Al–Ge thin films Adams, C. D.; Atzmon, M.; Cheng, Y-T. Journal of Materials Research, Vol. 7, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1557/JMR.1992.0653	journal	March 1992
Microstructural characterization of phase-separated co-deposited Cu–Ta immiscible alloy thin films Powers, Max; Derby, Benjamin; Shaw, Alex Journal of Materials Research, Vol. 35, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2020.100	journal	May 2020
Mechanisms and Dynamics of Layered Structure Formation During Co-Deposition of Binary Compound Thin Films Kairaitis, Gediminas; Galdikas, Arvaidas Coatings, Vol. 10, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings10010021	journal	December 2019
Modelling of Phase Structure and Surface Morphology Evolution during Compound Thin Film Deposition Kairaitis, Gediminas; Galdikas, Arvaidas Coatings, Vol. 10, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings10111077	journal	November 2020

Similar Records

Hierarchical morphologies in co-sputter deposited thin films

Journal Article · Wed Dec 16 23:00:00 EST 2020 · Physical Review Materials · OSTI ID:1755924

Microstructural characterization of phase-separated co-deposited Cu–Ta immiscible alloy thin films

Journal Article · Tue May 26 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · Journal of Materials Research · OSTI ID:1630735

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
composition modulation
phase ordering
phase-field modeling
physical vapor deposition

Compositionally-Driven Formation Mechanism of Hierarchical Morphologies in Co-Deposited Immiscible Alloy Thin Films

Citation Formats

References (28)

Similar Records

Related Subjects