Evolution of microstructure in nanocrystalline Mo-Cu thin films during thermal annealing
- Coordinated Science Laboratory and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1304 West Green Street, Urbana, Illinois 61801 (United States)
The evolution of microstructure in Mo-Cu thin films during annealing has been investigated by {ital in} {ital situ} sheet resistance measurements, {ital ex} {ital situ} x-ray diffraction, and {ital in} {ital situ} hot-stage as well as conventional transmission electron microscopy. Mo-Cu thin films, deposited on various glass substrates by magnetron sputtering at {similar_to}30 {degree}C, were supersaturated solid solutions of Cu in Mo with a nanocrystalline microstructure. The as-deposited films had large compressive residual stresses owing to the low homologous deposition temperature and low Ar pressure during deposition. Annealing results showed two distinct sets of microstructural changes occurring in the temperature ranges between {similar_to}300 and 500 {degree}C, and {similar_to}525 and 810 {degree}C. In the lower-temperature range, anisotropic growth of nanocrystallites was accompanied by stress relaxation without any observable phase separation. At temperatures greater than {similar_to}525 {degree}C, the metastable solid solution collapsed and Cu precipitated at the grain boundaries. Increasing temperature resulted in the coarsening of Cu precipitates and simultaneous growth of Mo grains. At temperatures greater than {similar_to}700 {degree}C, phase separation and grain growth approached completion. {copyright} {ital 1995} {ital American} {ital Institute} {ital of} {ital Physics}.
- Research Organization:
- Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG02-91ER45439
- OSTI ID:
- 91887
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 78, Issue 4; Other Information: PBD: 15 Aug 1995
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Nature of epitaxial growth of high- T sub c laser-deposited Y-Ba-Cu-O films on (100) strontium titanate substrates
Interdependence between stress, preferred orientation, and surface morphology of nanocrystalline TiN thin films deposited by dual ion beam sputtering