Strain inhomogeneity in copper islands probed by coherent X-ray diffraction

Guillaume Beutier (1) , Marc Verdier (1) , Guillaume Parry (1) , Bruno Gilles (1) , Stéphane Labat (2) , Marie-Ingrid Richard (2) , Thomas W. Cornelius (3) , Pierre-François Lory (1) , Sinh Vu Hoang (1) , Frédéric Livet (1) , Olivier Thomas (2) , Marc de Boissieu (1)

1 SIMaP - Science et Ingénierie des Matériaux et Procédés
2 IM2NP - Institut des Matériaux, de Microélectronique et des Nanosciences de Provence
3 ESRF - European Synchrotron Radiation Facility

The strain field of individual epitaxial sub-micrometric copper islands is studied using coherent X-ray diffraction and finite element modelling. The strain inhomogeneity in each island is so large that the characteristic features of the island shape tend to disappear in the diffraction pattern, which is dominated by strain effects. The model confirms the tensile strain imposed to the island by the thermal mismatch occurring during the preparation of the samples. An evaluation of the residual strain is obtained by qualitatively fitting the diffraction data.

Mots clés: Strain field; Nanostructures; Copper; Coherent X-ray diffraction

Domaines: Science des matériaux [cond-mat.mtrl-sci]

Guillaume Beutier, Marc Verdier, Guillaume Parry, Bruno Gilles, Stéphane Labat, et al.. Strain inhomogeneity in copper islands probed by coherent X-ray diffraction. Thin Solid Films, 2013, 530, pp.120-124. ⟨10.1016/J.TSF.2012.02.032⟩. ⟨hal-00807039⟩