Mo thin films were deposited on glass substrates using direct-current (dc) planar magnetron sputtering. Mechanical determination of the internal stresses, using the bending-beam technique, yielded typical compressive-to-tensile stress transition curves with increasing working-gas pressure. The microstructure of the compressively stressed films consists of tightly packed columns, whereas in the tensily stressed films the development of a void network structure surrounding the columnar grains is observed. At elevated working-gas pressures the onset of microcolumns is observed in the initial stage of film growth. Determination of lattice strains by x-ray diffraction (XRD), utilizing the sin2 ψ method, encounters more difficulties than the more straightforward stress determination by the bending-beam method. Here special attention is focused on deviations from linear dependence of dψ with sin2 ψ along with asymmetry of XRD line profiles that results from stress-depth profiles as well as lateral stress distributions in the tensily stressed films. These anomalies and the discrepancy between bending-beam stresses and XRD lattice strains, observed for high working-gas pressures, can be interpreted in terms of microstructural features revealed by cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy.
Effect of Mg interlayer on perpendicular magnetic anisotropy of CoFeB films in MgO/Mg/CoFeB/Ta structure Appl. Phys. Lett. 101, 122414 (2012) Pseudobinary Al2Te3-Sb2Te3 material for high speed phase change memory application Appl. Phys. Lett. 100, 052105 (2012) Significantly improved piezoelectric thermal stability of cellular polypropylene films by high pressure fluorination and post-treatments J. Appl. Phys. 111, 024111 (2012) Dynamics of solidification in Al thin films measured using a nanocalorimeter Tungsten thin fllms were deposited on glass substrates by direct-current planar magnetron sputtering. The induced thickness-averaged film stress within the plane of the tilm was determined with the bending-beam technique and changed from compressive to tensile on increasing working-gas pressure. The microstructure of these films was investigated by cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy. Compressively stressed films consisted of tightly packed columnar grains, whereas in films with a maximum value for the tensile stress the onset of a void network surrounding the columnar grains was observed. High-pressure conditions resulted in dendritic-like film growth, which brought about complete relaxation of internal stresses. The a phase was predominantly found in films under compression, while an increasing amount of P-W coincided with the transition to the tensile stress regime. Special attention was focused on stress-depth dependence and the development of two overlapping line profiles in x-ray diffraction (XRD) diagrams with film thickness as observed in compressively stressed films. Both findings constitute a remarkable result in respect of stress-depth distributions in thin films: the presence of two sublayers in a monophase film, one experiencing tensile and the other compressive stress. The occurrence of a modest tensile stress maximum present in the substrate-adjacent part of the film was explained by an elastically accommodated volume reduction, associated with a phase transformation (fl into a) of initially formed P-W. Furthermore, a comparison of bending-beam stresses and XRD lattice strains (utilizing the sin2 1c, method) provided a consistent view of the mechanical behavior of the differently strained sublayers in this monophase (a-W) film.
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