Investigation of deformation mechanism of SiC–CuNi composite thin film material nanochannels by molecular dynamics simulation

Abstract

Semiconductor–metal composites are widely used in aerospace and automotive manufacturing, weapon production, and electronic packaging because of their high hardness and strength as well as low coefficient of thermal expansion. In this study, SiC–CuNi composite films produced by single-target and dual-target co-deposition were simulated using molecular dynamics. The films were subjected to high-temperature quenching to obtain an annealing model. The deformation behaviors of the deposition and annealing models during the nanoindentation process were investigated in detail. Then, a characterization method for inspecting the roundness of nanochannels was proposed. In the deposition model, the Ni–Cu model generated amorphous structures at the interface. However, the annealing treatment atomically rearranged the film, producing dense films with improved crystalline quality. Other deposition models are developed using complex twin structures, which play a role in stress distribution and strain diffusion during deformation. Comparative investigation shows that high-temperature quenching can effectively enhance the stiffness of composite films, tightly bonding the atoms at the semiconductor–metal interface. Hardness calculations were performed for all models and the result was that the Cu + Ni model had the highest hardness. Moreover, the formation of nanochannels is affected: the tighter the bond, the more uniform the nanochannels.