Checkerboard-like structure in columnar W–Mo thin films

Abstract

Implementing bottom-up approaches to control the columnar architecture of thin films at the nanoscale is a powerful tool for developing surface properties. While inclined columns, zigzags or helices made of a single material are now commonly produced by oblique angle deposition processes, the creation of more complex and original structures associating at least two different materials still remains a challenging task, even more on silicon substrate. Herein, we show how to prepare tungsten/molybdenum columns exhibiting a checkerboard-like structure with motifs of a few tens of nanometers. Although understanding the growth phenomena becomes more problematic when two components are simultaneously provided during the film fabrication, this original combination of controlled mosaics in columnar thin films enables new opportunities to produce some unusual nanostructures for functional materials.