Coalescence behaviors of telephone cord buckles in SiAlNx films

We report on the coalescence behaviors of telephone cord (TC) buckles in SiAlNx films sputtered on 6 mm thick glass substrates. The buckles are found to propagate from the film edges to the central regions gradually after the sample was annealed at 700 degrees C for 4.5 min and then cooled to ambient temperature. If two buckles meet on their ways during propagation, they may coalesce into one buckle. The buckle morphology after coalescence is strongly dependent on the coincided degree and the phase difference of the original buckles. The coalescence processes and morphological characteristics of the TC buckles with diverse coincided degrees and phase differences have been investigated in detail. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.