Annealing behaviour of thin evaporated gold films

Abstract

Evaporated gold films approximately 200 Å thick have been heat treated to temperatures in the range 373–873 K and the average orientation of the polycrystals has been studied by electron diffraction. The (111) orientation appears to be favoured in the as-deposited film, and certainly develops preferentially at low annealing temperatures (373 K) if it is not. The attainment of a high degree of preferred orientation is never achieved within the range of annealing conditions used however, and the average orientation is found to be very little modified on heating to temperatures between 373 and 873 K, despite the considerable grain growth found to occur in this range.