In situ observation of self-annealing behaviors of (001)-oriented electrodeposited silver film by EBSD method

Abstract

The self-annealing behaviors of an electrodeposited silver film preferentially oriented in the (001) direction were investigated by in situ electron backscatter diffraction pattern (EBSD) analysis. It was confirmed that there are fine grains with crystallite sizes of approximately 20 nm in an as-electrodeposited silver film by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. Self-annealing starts after storage for about 2 h at room temperature (R.T.) and recrystallization is almost complete after storage for 6 h. The area fraction of (001)-oriented grains rapidly increases after storage for about 2 h at R.T. and saturates in the range from 70% to 80% after storage for 6 h. In the initial stage of self-annealing, (001)-oriented and (212)-oriented recrystallized grains nucleate. Moreover, (001)-oriented grains mainly grow during subsequent storage.