High-speed nanoscale characterization of dewetting via dynamic transmission electron microscopy

Journal Article · Sun Aug 28 04:00:00 EDT 2016 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4961212· OSTI ID:22598884

Hihath, Sahar ^[1]; Santala, Melissa K.; Campbell, Geoffrey ^[2]

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1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Davis, 1 Shields Ave., Davis, California 95616 (United States)
2. Materials Science Division, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 7000 East Ave., Livermore, California 94550 (United States)

The dewetting of thin films can occur in either the solid or the liquid state for which different mass transport mechanisms are expected to control morphological changes. Traditionally, dewetting dynamics have been examined on time scales between several seconds to hours, and length scales ranging between nanometers and millimeters. The determination of mass transport mechanisms on the nanoscale, however, requires nanoscale spatial resolution and much shorter time scales. This study reports the high-speed observation of dewetting phenomena for kinetically constrained Ni thin films on crystalline SrTiO{sub 3} substrates. Movie-mode Dynamic Transmission Electron Microscopy (DTEM) was used for high-speed image acquisition during thin film dewetting at different temperatures. DTEM imaging confirmed that the initial stages of film agglomeration include edge retraction, hole formation, and growth. Finite element modeling was used to simulate temperature distributions within the DTEM samples after laser irradiation with different energies. For pulsed laser irradiation at 18 μJ, experimentally observed hole growth suggests that Marangoni flow dominates hole formation in the liquid nickel film. After irradiation with 13.8 μJ, however, the observations suggest that dewetting was initiated by nucleation of voids followed by hole growth through solid-state surface diffusion.

• OSTI ID: 22598884
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Applied Physics Journal Issue: 8 Vol. 120; ISSN JAPIAU; ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
ELECTRONS
FINITE ELEMENT METHOD
HOLES
IMAGES
IRRADIATION
LASER RADIATION
LIQUIDS
MORPHOLOGICAL CHANGES
NANOSTRUCTURES
NICKEL
SPATIAL RESOLUTION
STRONTIUM TITANATES
SUBSTRATES
TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION
THIN FILMS
TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
VELOCITY