Large-amplitude thermal oscillations in defected, tilted nanocolumns

BC Hubartt and JG Amar, APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS, 105, 193107 (2014).

DOI: 10.1063/1.4901741

We consider the thermomechanical properties of highly defected, tilted copper nanocolumns grown via simulations of glancing angle deposition. The large defect density and compressive strain lead to ultra-low activation energies for plastic deformation via collective shear motion. As a result, the thermal oscillation amplitude is independent of temperature. This leads to a mechanism for large-amplitude thermally induced nanocolumn oscillation, in which the dynamics corresponds to a sequence of correlated activated events. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.

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