Buckling behaviors and adhesion energy of nanostructured Cu/X (X = Nb, Zr) multilayer films on a compliant substrate

Two sets of Cu/Nb (face-centered cubic (fcc)/body-centered cubic) and Cu/Zr (fcc/hexagonal close-packed) nanostructured multilayer films (NMFs) have been prepared on a flexible polyimide substrate, with a wide range modulation period (λ) from 250 down to 5 nm. The mechanical properties of the two NMFs have been measured upon uniaxial tensile testing and the buckling behaviors have been systematically investigated as a function of λ. A significant difference in the bucking behaviors was found between the two NMFs, with the buckles in the Cu/Nb NMF being mostly cracked, while the buckles were nearly crack-free in the Cu/Zr NMF. The different buckling behaviors, dependent on the constituent phases, are rationalized in the light of the disparity in mechanical properties. The criteria to characterize buckle cracking have been discussed with respect to the mechanical properties (e.g. yield strength, ductility and fracture toughness) of the NMFs. A modified energy balance model has been employed to estimate the adhesion energy of the NMFs on the polyimide substrate. Within the λ regime below a critical size (λcrit) of ∼50 nm a λ-independent adhesion energy of about 1.1 and 1.2 J m−2 has been determined for the Cu/Nb and Cu/Zr NMFs, respectively, which agrees well with previous reports on the metal film/polymer substrate systems. Within the λ regime greater than λcrit, however, the measured adhesion energy exhibit a strong size effect, i.e. increasing with increasing λ. The λ dependence of the evaluated adhesion energy is discussed in terms of the size-dependent deformation mechanism in NMFs. A micromechanics model has been utilized to quantify the critical modulation period of ∼50 nm, where the deformation mechanism changes from dislocation pile-up to confined layer slip.