Layered materials and thin film coatings are ubiquitous in today’s science, engineering, and technology sectors. To name just a few examples: fibre-reinforced composite laminates in aircraft structures, thermal barrier coatings in aero-engines and power turbines, multilayer Mo/Si mirrors of nanometre thickness in synchrotrons, telescope optics, extreme ultraviolet optical systems, etc. The inherent weak interfaces in these materials are extremely vulnerable to fracture which often causes thin film blisters of various morphologies.

The authors of the present work have made some...