Effect of Impurities on the Grain Growth of Polycrystalline Cu Thin Film

Abstract

We simulated grain growth of polycrystalline Cu thin film with impurities by the molecular dynamics method. The examined impurities were O and Ti of which the binding energy with Cu is strong and weak, respectively, and of which size is similar to matrix element Cu. The crystallinity and texture of the film were estimated by 2D-Fourier transformation of the atomic structure. The present study revealed that the impurity with strong binding energy and similar size to Cu atom segregated at the grain boundary and inhibited the grain growth. The obtained results showed good accordance with those obtained in actual experiments on Cu ultra-fine wires.