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The stability of a metal thin films on a dielectric substrate is conditionedby the magnitude of the interactive forces at the interface. In the case of anon-reactive interface and weak adhesion, the minimization of free surfaceenergy gives rise to an instability of the thin film. In order to study theseeffects, Pt thin films with a thickness of 50 nm were deposited via ion-beamsputtering on yttria stabilized zirconia single crystals. All Pt films weresubjected to heat treatments up to 973 K for 2 h. The morphological evolutionof Pt thin films has been investigated by means of scanning electron microscopy(SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and standard image analysis techniques.Three main observations have been made: i) the deposition method has a directimpact on the morphological evolution of the film during annealing. Instead ofhole formation, that is typically observed as response to a thermal treatment,anisotropic pyramidal shaped hillocks are formed on top of the film. ii) It isshown by comparing the hillocks' aspect ratio with finite element method (FEM)simulations that the hillock formation can be assigned to a stress relaxationprocess inside the thin film. iii) By measuring the equilibrium shapes and theshape fluctuations of the formed Pt hillocks the anisotropy of the step freeenergy and its stiffness have been derived in addition to the anisotropic kinkenergy of the hillock's edges.

Hillock formation of Pt thin films on Yttria stabilized Zirconia single crystals