Suppression of surface roughening kinetics of homogenously multilayered W films

Abstract

Using multi-step deposition mode, we developed an innovational strategy of homogenously multilayered (HM) structure to tailor the roughening kinetics of sputtered W films. Dynamic scaling analysis showed that all sublayers of HM W films exhibited the same anomalous roughening behavior, which originated from the limited surface diffusion. Intriguingly, different from its single-layered counterpart, the HM W films exhibited a suppression effect of kinetic roughening, which could be well manipulated by film modulation period. Detailed experimental characterization and phenomenological model analysis suggested that this roughening suppression arises from the multi-interruption of the continuous film roughening process, forming an interlayer interface after every interruption and restarting the sublayer roughening on the pre-sublayer surface.