Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 265501 (2011) [5 pages]Strain Relaxation and Vacancy Creation in Thin Platinum FilmsReceived 29 August 2011; published 19 December 2011 Synchrotron based combined in situ x-ray diffractometry and reflectometry is used to investigate the role of vacancies for the relaxation of residual stress in thin metallic Pt films. From the experimentally determined relative changes of the lattice parameter a and of the film thickness L the modification of vacancy concentration and residual strain was derived as a function of annealing time at 130 °C. The results indicate that relaxation of strain resulting from compressive stress is accompanied by the creation of vacancies at the free film surface. This proves experimentally the postulated dominant role of vacancies for stress relaxation in thin metal films close to room temperature. © 2011 American Physical Society URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.265501
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.265501
PACS:
61.72.jd, 61.05.cf, 68.60.Bs, 81.05.Bx
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