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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 March 2011
Well-annealed thin films are typically observed to exhibit mean grain diameters that are approximately equal to the film thickness. The standard explanation of this “sheet thickness effect” is that it results from a balance of grain boundary curvature in two different directions which, in turn, results from pinning at grain boundary grooves. TEM experiments have been performed to assess this model, and it is found that the predicted curvature about axes in the film plane is absent. Alternate explanations of the sheet thickness effect are considered.