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Growth of SiO 2 and TiO 2 thin films deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering and PECVD by the incorporation of non‐directional deposition fluxes
Author(s) -
Alvarez R.,
RomeroGomez P.,
GilRostra J.,
Cotrino J.,
Yubero F.,
GonzalezElipe A. R.,
Palmero A.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
physica status solidi (a)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.532
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1862-6319
pISSN - 1862-6300
DOI - 10.1002/pssa.201228656
Subject(s) - plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition , deposition (geology) , thin film , materials science , sputter deposition , sputtering , substrate (aquarium) , ion plating , plasma , cavity magnetron , chemical vapor deposition , physical vapor deposition , analytical chemistry (journal) , chemical engineering , nanotechnology , chemistry , organic chemistry , paleontology , oceanography , physics , quantum mechanics , sediment , geology , engineering , biology
We have deposited TiO 2 and SiO 2 thin films by techniques as different as plasma‐enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) and reactive magnetron sputtering under experimental conditions where highly directional deposition fluxes are avoided. The results indicate that whatever the deposition technique employed or even the precursor gas in the PECVD technique, films share common microstructural features: a mounded surface topography and a columnar arrangement in the bulk, with the column width growing linearly with film thickness. With the help of a Monte Carlo model of the deposition, we conclude that these common aspects are explained by solely taking into consideration the incorporation of a low‐energy, isotropically directed, deposition flux onto a substrate at low temperature and under a weak plasma/surface interaction environment.