Surface Roughening, Columnar Growth and Intrinsic Stress Formation in Amorphous CuTi Films

Abstract

AbstractThe growth of amorphous CuTi films, prepared by electron beam evaporation, is investigated by Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM), Small Angle Neutron Scattering (SANS) and in situ measurements of intrinsic mechanical stresses (ISM). In early growth stages the films develop compressive stresses and, with increasing film thickness, a crossover to tensile stresses. In the same thickness range the STM investigations show a change in the growth mode. Our experiments suggest a transition from planar growth with statistical surface roughening to columnar growth.