Tuning the stress state in Nb-thin films by lateral size confinement

Abstract For 5 nm thin Nb films adhered to a rigid substrate, hydrogen absorption leads to ultrahigh mechanical stress of about -8 GPa. This is related to a purely elastic behaviour. The high mechanical stress destabilizes phases and even suppresses conventional two-phase regions known for the Nb-H bulk system. These unique thin film properties can be preserved to thicker films, by lateral confinement. Nb-Fe films provide a laterally confined columnar domain structure of well-separated α-Nb(Fe) and μ-FeNb phase. While the α-Nb(Fe) absorbs hydrogen at low chemical potentials, the μ-FeNb phase does not, separating the two phases into a hydrogen active and a hydrogen passive one. The behaviour of 75 nm Nb-Fe films was studied by mechanical stress measurements, x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. With increasing Fe-content, Nb-Fe films show a strong increase in the yield stress upon hydrogen absorption. This allows for an extended elastic range and high maximum stress values of -4.6 GPa, for 75 nm Nb-Fe films. X-ray diffraction pattern collected upon hydrogen loading of Nb-Fe films show peak shifts and intermediate peak broadening. This indicates the presence of a two-phase region and preservation of the lattice coherency between the α-Nb(Fe)-H phase and the hydride phase. Peak shifts indicate a reduced vertical expansion of the hydrogen absorbing α-Nb(Fe) lattice. This is attributed to the presence of the µ-FeNb phase. FEM simulations on Nb-Fe-H films confirm reduced overall expansions and lateral stresses, when compared to pure Nb-H films. High vertical stresses arise upon H-loading due to the link between the two Nb-Fe phases. These stresses are tensile for µ-FeNb and compressive for the α-Nb(Fe) domains and also reach values of several GPa. Conservation of the exceptional thin film properties to thicker films by lateral confinement is suggested to be a powerful strategy for many different applications like sensor technology or energy storage.