In-Situ Micro Testing Techniques for Electro-Thermo-Mechanical Characterization of Nano/micro-Scale Materials

133 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007.100-nm-thick Al films deposited at two different conditions and having different grain sizes were compared for their thermal behavior by in-situ TEM annealing. The sample having grain size of 250 nm showed grain growth while that with 55-nm grains displayed no grain growth up to melting. The difference is attributed to larger concentration of oxygen in the latter sample. However, when the film having 55-nm grain size was interfaced with a SiO 2 layer, grain growth was seen near the melting, possibly because of the increased stress induced from thermal mismatch. Also, 4-point electrical resistance measurement was performed on 100-nm thick Al film. Its temperature-dependent response was normal metallic linear behavior except that the initial resistivity was about 10 times higher than the bulk value.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD