Structure and optical properties of evaporated films of the Cr- and V-group metals

Abstract

Thin films of Cr, Mo, and W rapidly evaporated in high vacuum (5×10−7 Torr) onto room-temperature substrates show anomalously low reflectance (compared to bulk samples). From electron and x-ray diffraction and electron microscopy, we find the normal bcc crystal structure, but with very fine grains. Columnar grains about 100 Å in diameter were separated by a less dense grain-boundary network about 10 Å wide. The measured optical conductivity agrees with an inhomogeneous-medium model that assumes the normal crystalline conductivity for the grain interiors, with model parameters that correlate to the observed columnar grain size. In contrast, V and Nb films rapidly evaporated onto room-temperature substrates have the reflectance of bulk crystalline material. On liquid- nitrogen temperature substrates, however, V and Nb have normal bcc crystal structure but with small flat-plate grains, and the same model, with appropriate parameters, accounts for the optical conductivity. The difference between these two groups apparently depends on residual gases segregated at the grain boundaries in the Cr-group films.