The Aspects of Thermal Anneal to Intrinsic Stress and Microstructiire of Multilayer Thin Films

Abstract

AbstractAdhesion degradation mechanism at the interface of a multilayer thin film was studied as a function of annealing temperature. The multilayer thin films employed for current investigation of the temperature effect were constructed by sputtering 500 Å Cr and 10K Å Cu on both sides of kapton. A steady decrease of adhesion strength was found as a result of increasing the annealing temperature from 150°C to 350°C. Thin film and interfacial properties in association with degradation of adhesion were characterized by several techniques, including intrinsic stress measurement, Auger, TEM and SIMS. Siveral changes were observed by elevating the annealing temperature. It was found that the intrinsic stress in each layer changed. Both Cu and Cr grain size increased with the annealing temperature. The interface at kapton and metal became more defined. The Cu atoms were found to become mobile and diffused into Cr and kapton layer after a 350 degree annealing. In addition, a change of molecular orientation and chemistry in kapton near the interface was observed by SIMS and XPS studies. A combination of these factors resulted in a decline of adhesion strength.