Metallic Thin Films: Microstructure and Property Design
A special issue of Metals (ISSN 2075-4701).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 October 2019) | Viewed by 417
Special Issue Editors
2. ETH Zurich, Laboratory for Nanometallurgy (LNM), Department of Materials, Vladimir-Prelog-Weg 5-1, CH-8093 Zürich, Switzerland
Interests: Property controlled microstructure design in binary metallic thin films; In-situ TEM studies of thin film dewetting; Decomposition kinetics of metastable binary metallic thin films; Complex in-situ TEM studies of phase transformation in binary metallic thin films; Kinetics of diffusional and displacive phase reactions; Phase transformations in metals and alloys
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: Plasticity, fracture and fatigue of nanostructured materials; Micromechanical testing; Nanostructured materials: pillars/wires, thin films, nanoporous, nanocrystalline materials; Printed and flexible electronics; In situ synchrotron and microscopy techniques; Peak shape analysis: Powder and µLaue diffraction; Characterization of dislocation-based and grain boundary-mediated deformation mechanisms
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Metallic thin films are one of the key components of modern electronic devices and therefore are the subject of substantial attention in research and technology. Electrodes in high-resolution displays, functional elements in data storage devices and integrated circuitry, nano-sensors, and conducting leads in flexible electronics, are only a few examples of the application areas for metallic thin films. An outstanding combination of the physical and mechanical properties of metallic thin films originate from their nano-sized grain morphology and the high sensitivity of the film microstructure to production conditions. These factors and modern thin film manufacturing techniques facilitate the control over the film microstructure, enable the design of new metallic thin film systems and allow their optimization with the purpose of meeting the demands of specific applications. State-of-the-art thin film processing techniques open a broad range of microstructure control routes, e.g. employing ion-beam assisted deposition for setting up a particular crystallographic state of the film, the generation of nanomodulated thin film structures or measuring the heat of reaction during film growth using in-situ scanning microcalorimetry.
An important aspect of thin film material design is to control the film microstructure and phase stabilities during processing and device fabrication. Temperature and stress-induced grain growth, phase transformations, oxidation and cracking/delamination manifest microstructure instability and are the subject of extensive studies.
Overall, for the optimal functioning of an electronic device, the metallic thin film element has to possess a well-tuned and stable microstructure. Therefore, the aim of this issue is to present the latest studies of mechanisms affecting the microstructure evolution during processing and operation even in harsh conditions (e.g. temperature, stress, aggressive environment, etc.). Moreover, a particular interest of this issue is the complex characterization of the film phase and microstructure evolution with highest possible resolution and with a focus on in-operando studies, such as in-situ electron microscopy or in-situ X-ray diffraction as well as the simulation and modelling of the corresponding phenomena.
Dr. Alla Sologubenko
Dr. Patric A. Gruber
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- State-of-the-art techniques for thin film deposition
- Microstructure control and stability
- Phase evolution and design
- Wetting and adhesion
- Stress-assisted phenomena
- Plasticity, fracture and fatigue
- Functional properties
- Deformation mechanisms
- In-situ characterization
- High resolution characterization
