Crystallite coalescence during film growth based on improved contact mechanics adhesion models

The analytical and numerical techniques based on contact mechanics theories for a wide range of contact mechanics theories for a wide range of conditions that approximate the intrinsic tensile stress that developes during crystallite coalescence is discussed. The length scale effect was also studied by varying the radius of individual crystallites from 20nm to 300nm. The ways to predict the magnitude of the net adhesive force associated with the zip up phenomenon were also discussed. It was concluded that for the estimation of the average tensile stress using the analytical models, the radius of individual crystallites must be large compared to the contact radius.