Faculty & Research

personnel profile

William D. Nix

 
Title:Professor Emeritus; Lee Otterson Professor of Materials Science and Engineering
Department(s):Materials Science and Engineering
Location:Durand Bldg. Rm. 117
Mail Code:2205
Phone:650.725.2605       
Fax:650.725.4034
E-mail: nix@stanford.edu

Research Statement

I have been engaged in the study of mechanical properties of materials for more than 40 years. My early work was on high temperature creep and fracture of metals, focusing on techniques for measuring internal back stresses in deforming metals and featuring the modeling of diffusional deformation and cavity growth processes. My students and I also studied high temperature dispersion strengthening mechanisms and described the effects of threshold stresses on these creep processes. Since the mid-1980's we have focused most of our attention on the mechanical properties of thin film materials used in microprocessors and related devices. We have developed many of the techniques that are now used to study of thin film mechanical properties, including nanoindentation, substrate curvature methods, bulge testing methods and the mechanical testing of micromachined (MEMS) structures. We are also known for our work on the mechanisms of strain relaxation in heteroepitaxial thin films and plastic deformation of thin metal films on substrates. In addition we have engaged in research on the growth, characterization and modeling of thin film microstructures, especially as they relate to the development of intrinsic stresses. Our current work deals with the mechanical properties of nanostructures and with strain gradients and size effects on the mechanical properties of crystalline materials.

Degree Discipline Year School
PhD 1963 Stanford
Publication TitleAuthor(s)/Speaker(s)Open Document
Microstructural length-scale effects in the nanoindentation behavior of thin gold films E.T. Lilleodden; W.D. Nix
Determining hardness of thin films in elastically mismatched film-on-substrate systems using nanoindentation S.M. Han; R. Saha; W.D. Nix
Anelastic behavior of copper thin films on silicon substrates: Damping associated with dislocations D.H. Choi; W.D. Nix
A study of the mechanical properties of nanowires using nanoindentation G. Feng; W.D. Nix; Y. Yoon...
A model of size effects in nano-indentation Y. Huang; F. Zhang; K.C. Hwang...
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Membership in National Academies

American Academy of Arts and Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Sciences

Academic Honors & Awards

Member of National Academy of Engineering
Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Member of the National Academy of Sciences
Acta Metallurgica Gold Medal, 1993
Educator Award, The Metallurgical Society, 1995
ASM Gold Medal, ASM International 1998
Honorary Doctorate of Engineering, Colorado School of Mines 2001
Nadai Medal, ASME, 2001
A.E. White Distinguished Teacher Award, ASM International 2002
Albert Sauveur Achievement Award, ASM International 2003
Honorary Doctorate of Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (2007)
the von Hippel Award 2007