In‐Plane Texturing in Sputtered Films

Films consisting of Mo, Cr, and Ta have all been found to display well-defined biaxialtextures when grown under certain conditions. A well-defined out-of-plane texture evolveswithin the first ~ 100 nm of the film, followed by the evolution of a preferred crystallographicorientation in the plane of the film. These effect were studied using X-ray pole figureanalysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy(TEM), transmission electron diffraction (TED), and high resolution grazing incidenceX-ray scattering (GIXS). It has been found that in-plane texture evolves only when thereis, on average, oblique adatom flux incident onto the substrate. Further, the type of out-of-plane texture can be controlled by altering the deposition conditions. Parameters including cathode-to-substrate distance, deposition rate, average angle of adatom incidence,and sputter gas pressure, have been shown to determine the type out-of-planetexture, as well as the rate of in-plane texture evolution. The studies conducted have shownthat it is possible to create and control biaxially textured films and multilayers made of avariety of materials. A recent model which describes this phenomena is discussed.