Dislocation accumulation and strengthening in Cu thin films Original Research Article

An analysis that addresses the strain-hardening behavior of thin metallic films on substrates is presented. Stress measurements were made on 0.5 μm thick Cu films on Si substrates during thermal cycling, during stress relaxation at room temperature (RT), and after quenching in liquid nitrogen. Significant strengthening was observed in the thermal cycle during cooling. The stress relaxation at RT shows a decrease of the stress from 360 MPa to 290 MPa within 15 months. A theoretical approach to the strengthening phenomenon is made on the basis of the Peach–Koehler dislocation-interaction forces. It shows that adding threading dislocations into a parallel array of dislocations at the film–substrate interface can contribute significantly to the strain hardening of thin films. The calculated strain hardening accounts for a large portion of the observed strengthening.