Nanoindentation and Adhesion Properties of Ta Thin Films

Abstract

Ta films were sputtered onto a glass substrate with thicknesses from 500 Å to 1500 Å under the following conditions: (a) as-deposited films were maintained at room temperature (RT), (b) films were postannealed atTA=150°C for 1 h, and (c) films were postannealed atTA=250°C for 1 h. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results revealed that the Ta films had a body-centered cubic (BCC) structure. Postannealing conditions and thicker Ta films exhibited a stronger Ta (110) crystallization than as-deposited and thinner films. The nanoindention results revealed that Ta thin films are sensitive to mean grain size, including a valuable hardness (H) and Young’s modulus (E). High nanomechanical properties of as-deposited and thinner films can be investigated by grain refinement, which is consistent with the Hall-Petch effect. The surface energy of as-deposited Ta films was higher than that in postannealing treatments. The adhesion of as-deposited Ta films was stronger than postannealing treatments because of crystalline degree effect. The maximalHandEand the optimal adhesion of an as-deposited 500-Å-thick Ta film were 15.6 GPa, 180 GPa, and 51.56 mJ/mm2, respectively, suggesting that a 500-Å-thick Ta thin film can be used in seed and protective layer applications.

Nanotribological, nanomechanical and interfacial characterization of atomic layer deposited TiO2 on a silicon substrate

“…(Gerberich, 2006;Chen, 2011;Roshangias, 2015). Several studies report the variation in adhesion with increasing thickness (Dauskardt, 1998;Volinsky 2002;Gerberich, 2006;Hirakata, 2010;Chen, 2013;Lu, 2014;Falsafein, 2018). Riedl and Yan-rong et al also include the effect of fracture toughness to their analysis (Riedl, 2012;Yan-rong, 2012).…”

Electrochromic Properties of Sol-Gel Synthesized Macroporous Tungsten Oxide Films Doped with Gold Nanoparticles

“…It has been reported that templated solgel prepared WO 3 films yield, after removing the template, meso-(pores in the size range of 2 to 20 nm) or macro porous films with significantly enhanced electrochromic properties. [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] In order to increase the coloration efficiency and improve the cycling stability, tungsten oxide was often used in conjunction with other transition metal oxides, for example molybdenum oxide, or with metals. It has been found for example, that, depositing a gold over layer on a compact WO 3 films, the optical modulation increased significantly 19 but; however, co-sputtered Au-WO 3 nanocomposites with a high concentration of gold showed poor electrochromic properties.…”