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Electro-mechanical performance of thin gold films onpolyimide

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 March 2016

Barbara Putz*
Affiliation:
Erich Schmid Institute of Materials Science, Austrian Academy of Sciences, and Department of Materials Physics, Montanuniversität Leoben, Jahnstrasse 12, Leoben 8700, Austria
Oleksandr Glushko
Affiliation:
Erich Schmid Institute of Materials Science, Austrian Academy of Sciences, and Department of Materials Physics, Montanuniversität Leoben, Jahnstrasse 12, Leoben 8700, Austria
Vera M. Marx
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung GmbH, Max-Planck-Str.1, 40237 Düsseldorf, Germany
Christoph Kirchlechner
Affiliation:
Erich Schmid Institute of Materials Science, Austrian Academy of Sciences, and Department of Materials Physics, Montanuniversität Leoben, Jahnstrasse 12, Leoben 8700, AustriaMax-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung GmbH, Max-Planck-Str.1, 40237 Düsseldorf, Germany
Daniel Toebbens
Affiliation:
Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie, Albert-Einstein-Str. 15, 12489 Berlin, Germany
Megan J. Cordill
Affiliation:
Erich Schmid Institute of Materials Science, Austrian Academy of Sciences, and Department of Materials Physics, Montanuniversität Leoben, Jahnstrasse 12, Leoben 8700, Austria
*
*corresponding author: barbara.putz@stud.unileoben.ac.at
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Abstract

Thin metal films on compliant polymer substrates are of major interest forflexible electronic technologies. The suitability of a film system for flexibleapplications is based on the electro-mechanical performance of the metalfilm/polymer substrate couple. This study demonstrates how a 10 nm Cr interlayerdeteriorates the electro-mechanical performance of 50 nm Au films on polyimidesubstrates by inducing the formation of cracks in the ductile layer. Combinedin-situ measurements of the film lattice strains with x-raydiffraction and electrical resistance with four point probe of the Au-Cr and Aulayers during uniaxial straining confirmed different electro-mechanicalbehaviours. For Au films with a Cr interlayer the film stress decreases rapidlyas cracking initiates and reaches a plateau as the saturation crack spacing isreached. Crack formation and stress drop correspond to a rapid increase in thefilm resistance. Without the interlayer the Au film stress reaches a maximumaround 2% engineering strain and remains constant throughout the experiment. Thefilm resistance is unaffected by the applied elongation up to a maximum strainof 15%, giving no sign of cracking in the metal layer. The outstandingelectro-mechanical performance of the gold film indicates that adhesion layers,like Cr, may not be necessary to improve the performance of ductile films onpolymers.

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Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2016 

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