Dewetting and Stress Evolution in Thin Films During Ion Irradiation

This project studies the morphology evolution of non-wetting metal films on a substrate during ion irradiation. It reveals that the mobility of the solid atoms is significantly improved during irradiation and the non-wetting films can dewet as if they are melted. The ion induced dewetting process can result into patterned nanoscale structures by self-organization. This project also investigates the stress evolution in thin films when they're bombarded with ∼1keV ions. Processes such as vacancy creation and phase transformation play important roles in the stress accumulation of the films. Meanwhile, it is discovered that atoms can be injected into deeper region from the ion bombarded layer during irradiation, inducing a compressive stress generation process. It is also noticed that despite the variance in their microstructures, the films show many common features in stress development during ion irradiation.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Materials Science and Engineering

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2015

Author dc:creator

• Zhao, Kai

Contributors dc:contributor

• Averback, Robert

• Engineering, Materials Science

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

(MiAaPQ)AAI3337989

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/82832