| AVS 54th International Symposium | |
| Thin Film | Wednesday Sessions |
| Session TF-WeM |
| Session: | Thin Film and Nanoparticle Growth and Characterization |
| Presenter: | W. Priyantha, Montana State University |
| Authors: | W. Priyantha, Montana State University A. Comouth, Montana State University A. Kayani, Montana State University M. Finsterbusch, Montana State University H. Chen, Montana State University M. Kopczyk, Montana State University D. Tonn, Montana State University R.J. Smith, Montana State University D.E. McCready, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory P. Nachimuthu, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
The use of ultra-thin metal interlayers to stabilize metal-metal interfaces and to limit interdiffusion has drawn much attention over the past few years, driven by a variety of technological applications. Earlier, we reported using a Ti monolayer as an interlayer to promote epitaxial growth and to minimize diffusion at the Fe/Al(001) interface. These findings encouraged us to explore the use of interlayer structures for thin films of technological interest deposited on Si wafers using RF sputtering. AlFe and FeAl metal bi-layers, with and without a Ti stabilizing interlayer, were studied using Rutherford backscattering (RBS) and X-ray reflectivity (XRR). Analysis revealed that FeAl and AlFe films without a Ti interlayer on SiO2/Si wafers showed considerable Fe-Al intermixing, especially when the Fe layer was deposited on top of the Al layer. With a Ti interlayer present the interfaces exhibited less interdiffusion.
* This work was supported by the National Science Foundation, NSF Grant DMR 0516603.