Detection of Yield Point Behavior by Acoustic Emission in thin Films

Fabrication of domain-boundary based thin-film devices needs to control the yield point of a strained/cooled ferroelastics. We show that such control is possible by acoustic emission measurements using an integrated detector system. Through molecular dynamics simulations, we find that in thin films, the potential energy reduction during the yield event can reach to 4 meV/atom, and generate strain of 0.005 at the surface which lead to detectable acoustic emission signals.