Characterization of (111)-Oriented Ag Nano-twinned Films on (111) Si Substrates

The special coincidence twin boundary has many advantageous effects for structural and electronic materials. In this study, nano-twinned Ag films with a strong (111) preferred orientation were sputtered on ( For the analyses of nano-twinned Ag films, the proportion of 3 twin boundaries to the total grain boundaries was 47.2%, the average twin thickness was 16 nm, and a maximal indentation hardness of 1.7 GPa can be measured. The addition of a Ti adhesive layer with a thickness of 0.1 m can effectively reduce the peeling failure of nano-twinned Ag film on (111) Si substrate. This considerably improved the reliability of nano-twinned Ag film, and enabled it to be used for engineering applications.