Johannes Zechner

Small-scale fracture toughness of ceramic thin films: the effects of specimen geometry, ion beam notching and high temperature on chromium nitride toughness evaluation

Abstract For the implementation of thin ceramic hard coatings into intensive application environments, the fracture toughness is a particularly important material design parameter. Characterisation of the fracture toughness of small-scale specimens has been a topic of great debate, due to size effects, plasticity, residual stress effects and the influence of ion penetration from the sample fabrication process. In this work, several different small-scale fracture toughness geometries (single-beam cantilever, double-beam cantilever and micro-pillar splitting) were compared, fabricated from a thin physical vapour-deposited ceramic film using a focused ion beam source, and then the effect of the gallium-milled notch on mode I toughness quantification investigated. It was found that notching using a focused gallium source influences small-scale toughness measurements and can lead to an overestimation of the fracture toughness values for chromium nitride (CrN) thin films. The effects of gallium ion irradiation were further studied by performing the first small-scale high-temperature toughness measurements within the scanning electron microscope, with the consequence that annealing at high temperatures allows for diffusion of the gallium to grain boundaries promoting embrittlement in small-scale CrN samples. This work highlights the sensitivity of some materials to gallium ion penetration effects, and the profound effect that it can have on fracture toughness evaluation.

Coherent Interfaces Increase Strain-Hardening Behavior in Tri-Component Nano-Scale Metallic Multilayer Thin Films

Strain-hardening in tri-component nano-scale metallic multilayers was investigated using nanoindentation and micro-pillar compression. Cu/Ni/Nb films were made in tri-layer structures as well as bi-layers consisting of an alloy of Cu–Ni/Nb. Strain-hardening increases as the layer thickness decreases, with 5 nm layers exhibiting higher strengths and hardening coefficients than 30 nm layers. The experimental evidence is described in light of the confined layer slip model, and supports the hypothesis that coherent interfaces with a modulus mismatch in the tri-layer system are responsible for additional deformation mechanisms that can lead to hardening in excess of that found in bi-layer systems.

Microcantilever Fracture Testing of Intermetallic Cu3Sn in Lead-Free Solder Interconnects

Driven by legislation and the abolishment of harmful and hazardous lead-containing solders, lead-free replacement materials are in continuous development. Assessment of the mechanical properties of intermetallic phases such as Cu3Sn that evolve at the interface between solder and copper metalization is crucial to predict performance and meet the high reliability demands in typical application fields of microelectronics. While representative material parameters and fracture properties are required to assess mechanical behavior, indentation-based testing produces different results depending on the sample type. In this work, focused ion beam machined cantilevers were used to unravel the impact of microstructure on the fracture behavior of Sn-Ag-Cu lead-free solder joints. Fracture testing on notched cantilevers showed brittle fracture for Cu3Sn. Unnotched samples allowed measurement of the fracture stress, to estimate the critical defect size in unnotched Cu3Sn microcantilevers.