Refining interface stress measurement in nanomultilayers through layer corrugation and interface roughness corrections

This study introduces new models that incorporate layer corrugation and interface roughness into standard approaches for measuring interface stress in nanomultilayers (NMLs). Applied to Cu/W NMLs, these models show that ignoring such features can inflate measured interface stress by up to 0.4 J/m^2. However, corrugation and roughness alone cannot account for the extreme stresses reported, suggesting that atomic-scale phenomena (e.g., intermixing and metastable phase formation at the interfaces) dominate. These findings highlight the importance of balancing bilayer counts and thickness-to-roughness ratios for reliable stress quantification, providing a practical pathway to designing and characterizing advanced nanocomposite coatings with improved accuracy.

本研究提出了将层波纹与界面粗糙度纳入纳米多层膜（nanomultilayers, NMLs）界面应力测量标准方法的新模型。将这些模型应用于Cu/W NMLs时发现，忽略此类特征会导致界面应力测量值高估最多0.4 J/m²。然而，仅靠波纹和粗糙度无法解释所报道的极端应力，这表明原子尺度现象（如界面处的互混与亚稳相形成）起主导作用。这些发现强调了平衡双层数量与厚度-粗糙度比对于可靠应力定量分析的重要性，为更精准地设计和表征先进纳米复合涂层提供了实用途径。