Micro-tension study of miniaturized Cu lines at variable temperatures

In this study, tension experiments on Cu micro-samples at temperatures between 143 and 873 K were performed in order to analyze the influence of grain size, temperature and strain rate on the mechanical properties and fracture mode. The activation energy and evolution of the dislocation density have been analyzed to identify the deformation mechanisms. A transition from bulk-like to stochastic, small-scale behavior has been found with increasing grain size. Furthermore, dependent on the grain size and temperature a change from dislocation based plasticity to diffusion controlled deformation was observed.