The role of grain size distribution on the anomalous yielding of ultrafine-grained Au thin films

Scripta Materialia 2026 Open access

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Authors: Yichen Yang, Kunqing Ding, Ting Zhu, Josh Kacher, Olivier Pierron
DOI: 10.1016/j.scriptamat.2026.117178
Cited by: 2
References: 38

Abstract

Ultrafine grained metals, with grain size ranging from 100 nm to 1 μm, generally exhibit increasing strength with decreasing grain size, as expected by the Hall-Petch relationship. Contrary to this trend, we observe an increase in yield strength from 310 to 520 MPa as the average grain size of Au thin films increases from 140 to 360 nm after annealing at 350 °C. Quantitative in situ TEM nanomechanical testing reveals that the grain size distribution plays a key role in determining the films’ yield strength. In the as-deposited state, a large area fraction of nanograins (

Fields of Study & Subjects

Microstructure and mechanical properties Copper Interconnects and Reliability Solidification and crystal growth phenomena

Publication details

Journal / source
Scripta Materialia
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Volume
275
Pages
117178–117178
Publication date
15 January 2026
Language
EN