Study of texture effect on elastic properties of Au thin films by X-ray diffraction and in situ tensile testing

The influence of texture on the elastic behavior of An thin films has been quantified experimentally and theoretically. The elastic behaviors of non-textured and {1 1 1} fiber-textured gold thin films were studied by in situ tensile testing using four-circle goniometers on a synchrotron beam line (LURE facility, France). The mechanical coupling of the substrate-thin film composite structure has been described and analytical solutions for diffraction strain analysis have been developed including texture and grain interaction models. These are applied to extract and compare elastic properties of the two types of gold films, and to quantify the effect of texture on the direction-dependent Young's modulus. (c) 2006 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.