Epitaxial Ag(001) grown on MgO(001) and TiN(001): Twinning, surface morphology, and electron surface scattering
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York 12180 (United States)
Epitaxial Ag(001) layers were deposited on MgO(001) in order to study electron surface scattering. X-ray reflection indicates 3D layer nucleation with a high rms surface roughness of 1.0 nm for a layer thickness d = 3.5 nm. X-ray diffraction shows that {l_brace}111{r_brace} twins form at d < 11 nm, followed by 2nd generation twinning for 11 nm < d < 120 nm. Increasing the growth temperature from 25 to 150 deg. C suppresses 2nd generation twinning and reduces the twin density by 2 orders of magnitude. In situ deposition of epitaxial 2.5-nm-thick TiN(001) underlayers prior to Ag deposition results in twin-free single-crystal Ag(001) with 10 x smoother surfaces for d = 3.5 nm. This is attributed to a better wetting on the higher energy TiN(001) than MgO(001) surface, resulting in the absence of 3D nuclei with exposed {l_brace}111{r_brace} facets, which facilitate twin nucleation. The twinned Ag/MgO layers have a higher resistivity {rho} than the single crystal Ag/TiN layers at both 298 and 77 K, due to electron scattering at grain and twin boundaries. The {rho} for single-crystal Ag layers increases with decreasing d, which is well explained with known surface scattering models and provides specularity parameters for the Ag-vacuum and the Ag-air interfaces of p = 0.8 {+-} 0.1 and 0.4 {+-} 0.1, respectively. A comparison with corresponding epitaxial Cu(001) layers shows that {rho}{sub Ag} < {rho}{sub Cu} for d > 50 nm, consistent with known bulk values. However, {rho}{sub Ag} > {rho}{sub Cu} for d < 40 nm. This is attributed to the larger electron mean free path for electron-phonon scattering and a correspondingly higher resistivity contribution from surface scattering in Ag than Cu. In contrast, air exposure causes {rho}{sub Ag} < {rho}{sub Cu} for all d, due to diffuse scattering at the oxidized Cu surface and the correspondingly higher Cu resistivity.
- OSTI ID:
- 22038863
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 111, Issue 4; Other Information: (c) 2012 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-8979
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
DEPOSITION
DIFFUSE SCATTERING
ELECTRIC CONDUCTIVITY
ELECTRON-PHONON COUPLING
INTERFACES
LAYERS
MAGNESIUM OXIDES
MEAN FREE PATH
MONOCRYSTALS
MORPHOLOGY
NUCLEATION
SILVER
TITANIUM NITRIDES
TWINNING
VAPOR PHASE EPITAXY
X-RAY DIFFRACTION