In-Situ Phase Evolution study in Magnetron-Sputtered Tantalum Thin Films
Abstract
The design and construction of a planar magnetron-sputter deposition system with a beryllium chamber was accomplished to perform in-situ x-ray diffraction growth study of refractory coatings. The deposition system was set on top of a laboratory 26 x-ray diffractometer. A two-dimensional array detector was interfaced for observation of the Debye rings during growth. Integration along the 20 and directions allows fast phase and texture determination. The system was built to study effects of sputter deposition parameters on the structural properties of tantalum on steel, silicon, and glass substrates without exposing the system to atmosphere pressure. Two sputter depositions of tantalum films onto glass substrate in argon gas are reported here, one was deposited at 25-mm target-detector distance, 3.9 Pascal argon gas, and the other at 108-mm target-detector distance and 1.3 Pascal argon gas. The first film grew to 250-nm in 39 minutes at an average growth rate of 6.4-nm/minute. It consisted of 45-nm of interface layer, which showed no crystalline structure, and was most likely amorphous film. It was followed by 15-nm growth of Beta-tantalum, and then followed by 190-nm growth of alpha-tantalum. From the full-width half maximum of the plot, it was determined that the p-tantalum region was <002> textured, and the a-tantalum region was <110> textured, and grew more textured with deposition time. The second film grew to 36-nm in 22 minutes at an average growth rate of 1 .6-nm/minute. It consisted of 31-nm of layer, which showed no crystalline structure, and was most likely amorphous film. It was followed by 5-nm of surface layer of p- and a-tantalum. Ex-situ grazing incidence x-ray diffraction performed on the film surface confirmed the in-situ results. Ex-situ pole figure analysis showed <110> fiber texture in a-tantalum, and highly <002> texture in p-tantalum.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2002
- Accession Number
- ADA408894
Entities
People
- D. Windover
- M. Audino
- S. L. Lee
- T. M. Lu
Organizations
- United States Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center