title: X-ray microdiffraction study of growth modes and crystallographic tilts in oxide films on metal substrates.
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.
authors.affiliation: Condensed Matter Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, PO Box 2008, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA. budaijd@ornl.gov
authors.forename: John D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Budai
authors.forename: Wenge
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Nobumichi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tamura
authors.forename: Jin-Seok
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: Jonathan Z
authors.initials: JZ
authors.lastname: Tischler
authors.forename: Bennett C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Larson
authors.forename: Gene E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Ice
authors.forename: Chan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: David P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Norton
mesh_terms: D002563:Cerium / Q000737:chemistry; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D008670:Metals; D010087:Oxides / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D008670:Metals; D010087:Oxides; D002563:Cerium; C030583:ceric oxide