Modeling metallic island coalescence stress via adhesive contact between surfaces

Tensile stress generation associated with island coalescence is almost universally observed in thin films that grow via the Volmer-Weber mode. The commonly accepted mechanism for the origin of this tensile stress is a process driven by the reduction in surface energy at the expense of the strain energy associated with the deformation of coalescing islands during grain boundary formation. In the present work, we have performed molecular statics …