In this work, the hardness of Ag/Nb/Cu/Nb multilayers with Nb amorphous interlayer were investigated as the individual layer thickness of Ag or Cu (h_Ag or h_Cu) varies from 5 to 120 nm. The hardness values of Ag/Nb/Cu/Nb multilayers improve a lot compared with those of the Ag/Cu multilayers and the length scale effect of strengthening becomes broadening in the range of 5–60 nm. At h_Ag = 60 nm, the hardness remains high and reaches 95% of the maximum hardness of h_Ag = 5 nm. The enhancement can be contributed to the modulus mismatch and the crystal/amorphous interfaces (CAIs) due to the addition of Nb amorphous interlayer. These CAIs can both increase resistance of dislocations transmission and inhibit the deformation of the amorphous layer.

在这项工作中，研究了具有 Nb 非晶中间层的 Ag/Nb/Cu/Nb 多层膜的硬度，因为 Ag 或 Cu ( h _Ag或h _Cu ) 的单个层厚度在 5 到 120 nm 之间变化。Ag/Nb/Cu/Nb 多层膜的硬度值较 Ag/Cu 多层膜有很大提高，强化的长度尺度效应在 5-60 nm 范围内变宽。在h _Ag  = 60 nm 时，硬度仍然很高，达到h _{Ag最大硬度的 95%} = 5纳米。由于添加了 Nb 非晶中间层，这种增强可能有助于模量失配和晶体/非晶界面 (CAI)。这些CAI既可以增加位错传输的阻力，又可以抑制非晶层的变形。