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X-ray microdiffraction study of growth modes and crystallographic tilts in oxide films on metal substrates

Nature Materials volume 2, pages 487–492 (2003)Cite this article

Abstract

The crystallographic texture of thin-film coatings plays an essential role in determining such diverse materials properties as wear resistance, recording density in magnetic media and electrical transport in superconductors. Typically, X-ray pole figures provide a macroscopically averaged description of texture, and electron backscattering provides spatially resolved surface measurements. In this study, we have used focused, polychromatic synchrotron X-ray microbeams to penetrate multilayer materials and simultaneously characterize the local structure, orientation and strain tensor of different heteroepitaxial layers with submicrometre resolution. Grain-by-grain microstructural studies of cerium oxide films grown on textured nickel foils reveal two distinct kinetic growth regimes on vicinal surfaces: ledge growth at elevated temperatures and island growth at lower temperatures. In addition, a combinatorial approach reveals that crystallographic tilting associated with these complex interfaces is qualitatively described by a simple geometrical model applicable to brittle films on ductile substrates. The sensitivity of conducting percolation paths to tilt-induced texture improvement is demonstrated.

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Figure 1: Grain-by-grain white-beam X-ray microdiffraction from a film deposited on a polycrystalline substrate.
Figure 2: Crystallographic tilt, Δα, of the CeO2(001) planes relative to the substrate Ni(001) planes.
Figure 3: Heteroepitaxial growth modes for CeO2 films on textured Ni substrates.
Figure 4: Orientation maps produced by X-ray microdiffraction.
Figure 5: Local strain components in CeO2 films on textured Ni substrates.

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Acknowledgements

We thank K.-S. Chung, E. Williams, and W. P. Lowe for their contributions during this work, 3M Company for supplying the Ni substrates, and T. Aytug for providing the LMO samples. The measurements were performed on the UNI-CAT and MHATT-CAT beam lines at the Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National Laboratory, which is supported by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science. This research was sponsored by the US Department of Energy Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Materials Sciences, under contract with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, managed by UT-Battelle, LLC.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Condensed Matter Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, PO Box 2008, Oak Ridge, 37831, Tennessee, USA

    John D. Budai, Wenge Yang, Jonathan Z. Tischler & Bennett C. Larson

  2. Advanced Light Source, 1 Cyclotron Road

    Nobumichi Tamura

  3. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, 94720, California, USA

    Nobumichi Tamura

  4. Department of Physics, Soongsil University, 1-1 Sangdo-dong, Seoul, South Korea

    Jin-Seok Chung

  5. Metals & Ceramics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, PO Box 2008, Oak Ridge, 37831, Tennessee, USA

    Gene E. Ice

  6. Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute, 28-1 Seong Joo Dong, Changwon, South Korea

    Chan Park

  7. Department of Materials Science & Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, 32611, Florida, USA

    David P. Norton

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Correspondence to John D. Budai.

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Budai, J., Yang, W., Tamura, N. et al. X-ray microdiffraction study of growth modes and crystallographic tilts in oxide films on metal substrates. Nature Mater 2, 487–492 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat916

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