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Stress Evolution in Metallic Thin Films

Grzegorz Gladyszewski 

Lublin University of Technology, Institute of Physics, Nadbystrzycka 38, Lublin 20-618, Poland

Abstract

Intermittent deposition of metallic thin film.

Copper, silver and gold thin films were deposited on 100μm Si(001) substrates at room temperature in vacuum system (p= 10-9 hPa). Deposition rate ranged from 0.2 up to 0.5 Å/s. The process was intermittent in a periodic way – for each several nm thick sublayer (7÷18 nm) the deposition was interrupted for about 10 minutes. The total force per unit depth (F/w) in films was in-situ determined by the use of the substrate curvature measurement method with laser scanning technique [1]. The evolution of the general trend in F/w for each metal is similar to that observed for continuous deposition. However, a significant stress evolution during the interruption periods was observed. Characteristic changes of F/w during 10 minutes interruption periods were not observed until the layer reached thickness about 20 nm. Similar effect was also observed for silver layers, whereas for gold layers no evolution of F/w was observed for interruption periods. Evolution of the total force per unit depth (F/w) for each studied material will be presented and discussed in detail.

Thermal treatment.

Thermal treatment is one of the stress modification methods. The stress measurements during thermal cycles provide quantitative data on mechanical stability of thin films. When very thin layers are annealed a hysteresis loop may have a difficult to explain shape. The experiments have been performed by the use of the curvature measurement optical system [1]. To interpret annealing results additional characterization by X-ray diffraction has been performed and results will be discussed.

Ion irradiation.

Ion irradiation modifies a stress in thin films. In most cases the stress relaxation effect is observed for tensile and compressive stresses, however the build up of compressive stress was also observed. Stress evolution during ion implantation of 210 keV Ar and 300 keV Kr ions into the Mo thin films deposited on Si substrate as well as silicon substrate without a film will be presented and discussed.

References.

[1] P.A.Flinn, D.S.Gardner and W.D.Nix, IEEE Trans. Electron. Dev. ED-34 (1987) 689.

 

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Presentation: Oral at E-MRS Fall Meeting 2006, Thin-layered materials workshop, by Grzegorz Gladyszewski
See On-line Journal of E-MRS Fall Meeting 2006

Submitted: 2006-08-07 10:02
Revised:   2006-08-07 10:04