Effects of high temperature and film thicknesses on the texture evolution in Ag thin films

Abstract

In situ high-temperature X-ray diffraction techniques were used to study the effect of high temperatures (up to $ 600 {}^{\circ}{\rm C}$ on the texture evolution in silver thin films. Ag thin films with different thicknesses of 40, 80, 120 and 160nm were sputtered on the Si(100) substrates at room temperature. Then, microstructure of thin films was determined using X-ray diffraction. To investigate the influence of temperature on the texture development in the Ag thin films with different thicknesses, (111), (200) and (220) pole figures were evaluated and orientation distribution functions were calculated. Minimizing the total energy of the system which is affected by competition between surface and elastic strain energy was a key factor in the as-deposited and post annealed thin films. Since sputtering depositions was performed at room temperature and at the same thermodynamic conditions, the competition growth caused the formation of the $ \{122\} \langle uvw \rangle$ weak fiber texture in as-deposited Ag thin films. It was significantly observed that the post annealed Ag thin films showed $ \{111\} \langle uvw \rangle$ orientations as their preferred orientations, but their preferred fiber texture varied with the thickness of thin films. Increasing thin film thickness from 40nm to 160nm led to decreasing the intensity of the $ \{111\} \langle uvw \rangle$ fiber texture.