On strain-localized damage in nanoscale Cu–Ta multilayers on a flexible substrate

Through the careful examination of the tensile-deformed Cu–Ta multilayers with individual layer thickness of 10 nm, we found that alignment of grain boundaries occurred in the localized deformation zone close to channel cracks on the top Cu layer. Quantitative measurement of the variation amplitude of grain boundary path and theoretical analysis indicated that nanometer-scale movement of grains appeared to accommodate the localized plastic deformation in the Cu–Ta multilayer. The possible mechanisms for the nanometer-scale movement of the grains in the nanoscale metallic multilayer were evaluated.