Mechanism of stress relaxation in nanocrystalline Fe-N thin films

Ranjeeta Gupta, Ajay Gupta, W. Leitenberger, and R. Rüffer
Phys. Rev. B 85, 075401 – Published 1 February 2012

Abstract

The mechanism of stress relaxation in nanocrystalline Fe-N thin film has been studied. The as-deposited film possesses a strong in-plane compressive stress which relaxes with thermal annealing. Precise diffusion measurements using nuclear resonance reflectivity show that stress relaxation does not involve any long-range diffusion of Fe atoms. Rather, a redistribution of nitrogen atoms at various interstitial sites, as evidenced by conversion electron Mössbauer spectroscopy, is responsible for the relaxation of internal stresses. On the other hand, formation of the γ-Fe4N phase at temperatures above 523 K involves long-range rearrangement of Fe atoms. The activation energy for Fe self-diffusion is found to be 0.38±0.04 eV.

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  • Received 30 December 2011

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.85.075401

©2012 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Ranjeeta Gupta and Ajay Gupta*

  • UGC-DAE Consortium for Scientific Research, University Campus, Khandwa Road, Indore 452 017, India

W. Leitenberger

  • Institute of Physics, University of Potsdam, D-14469 Potsdam, Germany

R. Rüffer

  • European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, BP 220, F-38043 Grenoble Cedex, France

  • *agupta@csr.res.in

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Vol. 85, Iss. 7 — 15 February 2012

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