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Microstructure and mechanical properties of sub-micron zinc structures

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Abstract

The mechanical properties of submicron scale columnar zinc structures, with average diameters between 130 and 1060 nm, were characterized by uniaxial microcompression tests. The zinc pillars were fabricated by electron beam lithography and electroplating and were found to be generally single crystalline, with a preferred out-of-plane orientation close to the [0001] directions. Post deformation microstructural analysis suggests that the zinc pillars maintain their single-crystalline structure, but without twin boundary formation. Interestingly, the engineering flow stress results indicate that small-scale zinc structures are insensitive to both strain rate and size.

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Acknowledgments

T.Y. Tsui thanks Canadian NSERC Discovery, NSERC Research Tools and Instruments, and the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) for the support of this research. The authors thank Dr. Aju Jugessur and Edward Xu for assistance with operation of the Leica EBPG5000+ electron beam lithography system and gratefully acknowledge critical support and infrastructure provided for this work by the Emerging Communications Technology Institute at the University of Toronto. The transmission electron microscopy analysis described in this paper was performed at the Canadian Center for Electron Microscopy (CCEM), which is operated by the Brockhouse Institute for Materials Research of McMaster University. The CCEM is supported by NSERC and other government agencies. T.Y. Tsui would like to thank Professor Joost Vlassak for valuable discussions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 3G1, Canada

    Sumin Jin

  2. CAMCOR High Resolution and Analytical Facility, Department of Chemistry, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, 97403-1241, USA

    Sujing Xie

  3. Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 3G1, Canada

    Michael J. Burek

  4. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 3G1, Canada

    Zeinab Jahed

  5. Department of Chemical Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 3G1, Canada

    Ting Y. Tsui

  6. School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138, USA

    Michael J. Burek

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  1. Sumin Jin
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  2. Sujing Xie
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Correspondence to Michael J. Burek.

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Jin, S., Xie, S., Burek, M.J. et al. Microstructure and mechanical properties of sub-micron zinc structures. Journal of Materials Research 27, 2140–2147 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2012.146

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2012.146

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