Tensile stress evolution during deposition of Volmer–Weber thin films
- 15 December 2000
- journal article
- research article
- Published by AIP Publishing in Journal of Applied Physics
- Vol. 88 (12), 7079-7088
- https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1325379
Abstract
A simple model is presented that predicts the kinetics of tensile stress evolution during the deposition of thin films that grow by the Volmer–Weber mechanism. The generation of a tensile stress was attributed to the impingement and coalescence of growing islands, while concurrent stress relaxation was assumed to occur via a microstructure-dependent diffusive mechanism. To model the process of island coalescence, finite element methods were employed and yielded average tensile stresses more consistent with experimental observations than those predicted using previously reported analytical models. A computer simulation was developed that models the process of film growth as the continuous nucleation of isolated islands, which grow at a constant rate to impinge and coalesce to form a continuous polycrystalline film. By incorporating the finite element results for stress generation and a microstructure-dependent stress relaxation model, the simulation qualitatively reproduced the complex temperature-dependent trends observed from in situ measurements of stress evolution during the deposition of Ag thin films. The agreement includes simulation of the decreasing stress relaxation rate observed during deposition at increasing temperatures.Keywords
This publication has 23 references indexed in Scilit:
- Crystallite coalescence: A mechanism for intrinsic tensile stresses in thin filmsJournal of Materials Research, 1999
- The intrinsic stress of polycrystalline and epitaxial thin metal filmsJournal of Physics: Condensed Matter, 1994
- Film growth studies with intrinsic stress measurement: Polycrystalline and epitaxial Ag, Cu, and Au films on mica(001)Journal of Applied Physics, 1991
- Internal stress and structure of ultrahigh vacuum evaporated chromium and iron films and their dependence on substrate temperature and oxygen partial pressure during depositionThin Solid Films, 1990
- In situ determination of the structure of thin metal films by internal stress measurements: Structure dependence of silver and copper films on oxygen pressure during depositionThin Solid Films, 1980
- Stresses in thin films: The relevance of grain boundaries and impuritiesThin Solid Films, 1976
- Recent developments in the study of mechanical properties of thin filmsThin Solid Films, 1972
- Stress in Vacuum-Deposited Films of Ag, Au, and CuJournal of Vacuum Science and Technology, 1969
- The internal stress in evaporated silver and gold filmsThin Solid Films, 1969
- Nucleation and Growth of Thin Films as Observed in the Electron MicroscopeJournal of Vacuum Science and Technology, 1966