Elastic and transport properties of nanolayered crystalline Cu/amorphous Cu-Zr multilayers

Abstract Elastic and transport properties of nanolayered crystalline Cu/amorphous Cu–Zr multilayers with intrinsic layer thickness (0.5 nm) have been comprehensively investigated by First-principle calculations. The results indicate that the conduction of Cu/Cu x Zr 100-x multilayers generally increases with the increasing of the concentration of Cu (at.%) at the range of x x > 50, the conduction of Cu/Cu x Zr 100-x multilayers decreases as x increases. Although all of Cu/Cu x Zr 100-x multilayers exhibit ultrahigh strength, the Cu/Cu 50 Zr 50 multilayer is the best choice for “stronger-and-ductile” and exhibits the most outstanding transport properties among the series of Cu/amorphous Cu-Zr multilayers.