About cookies on this site Our websites require some cookies to function properly (required). In addition, other cookies may be used with your consent to analyze site usage, improve the user experience and for advertising. For more information, please review your options. By visiting our website, you agree to our processing of information as described in IBM’sprivacy statement. To provide a smooth navigation, your cookie preferences will be shared across the IBM web domains listed here.
Publication
Journal of Applied Physics
Paper
Interdiffusion in copper-aluminum thin film bilayers. I. Structure and kinetics of sequential compound formation
Abstract
Interdiffusion in Cu-Al thin film bilayers at temperatures between 160 and 300 °C has been studied by a combination of glancing-incidence x-ray diffraction, Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy, and transmission electron diffraction and microscopy. A sequential intermetallic compound formation was observed in samples with an excess amount of Cu with θ-CuAl2 forming first, followed by η2-CuAl, and γ2- Cu9Al4. In samples with excess Al, the θ-CuAl 2 is the first and the last phase formed. The thickening of these compounds was found to obey a parabolic relationship with time, and especially the thickening of θ-CuAl2 can be described by a prefactor of 7.4 cm2/s and an activation energy of 1.31 eV.