Dependence of stresses on grain orientations in thin polycrystalline films on substrates: an explanation of the relationship between preferred orientations and stresses

Several experimental results have showed that the degree of (200) preferred orientation increased with increasing compressive stress, on contrary, the degree of (111) preferred orientation increased with increasing tensile stress in plane of the film. To explain this relationship between preferred orientations and stresses, we have made calculations of the stresses in plane of the film for the various (h k l)-oriented grains in a polycrystalline film composed of the fcc metal Cu, Al, Ag, Au, Ni, Pb and Th, respectively. The results of the calculations showed that, the stresses in plane of the film depended not only on the grain orientations (h k l), but also on the direction in the plane of the film excepting in (100)- and (111)-oriented grains. They were similar for all fcc metals studied with (100)-oriented grains having the lowest average stress in the plane of the film and the (111)-oriented grains the highest.