The Effects of Crystallization on Mechanical Mechanism and Residual Stress of Sputtered Ag Thin Films

Abstract

Silver film is widely used in optoelectronic and semiconductor industries, but its stress problem has not been verified. Sputtered Ag films of different thicknesses were used to investigate the effect of the crystallization on their solidification residual stress and electrical properties. From XRD data (2ª > 90°), an increase the thickness of the Ag film from 30 to 400 nm, not only raised the index of crystallization, but also obtained a lower resistivity. However, the peak (331) had a dissolution tendency due to the residual stress. The grain size of Ag films with greater thickness had grown because of the longer sputtering duration. Due to variations in the crystallized texture, the 30 and 110 nm films showed no sign of elasticity under nano-indentation testing. Under low-energy XRD (30 kV-20 µA), the 30 nm film not only had more residual stress, but also formed a new plane of diffraction at 104.2°of 2ª and the actual compressive stress value was 14.94 MPa. After an electrical current induced crystallization (EIC) test, the resistivity and residual stress of Ag film were improved.

Effect of driving frequency on the structure of silicon grown on Ag (111) films by very-high-frequency magnetron sputtering

“…It can also be seen that the Ag (111) peak is the most intense, which implies that the preferential orientation of the Ag grains was along the crystalline direction (111). [25,26] Therefore, the Ag film used in this work has the same crystal structure as that of Ag (111) substrate used in other work. [3,[10][11][12][13][14] Figure 2 shows the 2D and threedimensional (3D) surface morphologies of Ag (111) film measured by AFM, each of which exhibits a small cone structure.…”

Characterization and Functional Applications of Nanoporous Ag Foams Prepared by Chemical Dealloying

“…[1][2][3] Nanoporous foams can be fabricated in a variety of materials such as polymers, ceramics, and metals. [4][5][6][7] Because it is more expensive to fabricate the nanoporous metal foams since the noble Au, Pt, and Pd elements are usually used, more studies have been performed on the polymer and ceramic-based nanoporous foams. [5][6][7][8] Though nanoporous metals foams have high electric and thermal conductivity, corrosion resistance, sufficient strength, fatigue resistance, etc., the developments are still in the early stages, such as the investigations of the catalyst and electrode.…”

“…[4][5][6][7] Because it is more expensive to fabricate the nanoporous metal foams since the noble Au, Pt, and Pd elements are usually used, more studies have been performed on the polymer and ceramic-based nanoporous foams. [5][6][7][8] Though nanoporous metals foams have high electric and thermal conductivity, corrosion resistance, sufficient strength, fatigue resistance, etc., the developments are still in the early stages, such as the investigations of the catalyst and electrode. [9][10][11] Selective removal of one or two components from a composite involving several process methods such as chemical dealloying, electrochemical dealloying, and powder sintering has become a routine technique of rapid and direct generation of nanoporous metals foams.…”