AVS 53rd International Symposium
    Thin Film Tuesday Sessions
       Session TF-TuP

Paper TF-TuP18
Anisotropic Microstructure of PVD Coatings Caused by Anisotropy in Flux Distribution of Arriving Atoms

Tuesday, November 14, 2006, 6:00 pm, Room 3rd Floor Lobby

Session: Thin Film Poster Session
Presenter: R. Machunze, Technical University Delft, the Netherlands
Authors: S.Yu. Grachev, Netherlands Institute for Metals Research, the Netherlands
J.-D. Kamminga, Netherlands Institute for Metals Research, the Netherlands
T. Smy, Carleton University, Canada
G.C.A.M. Janssen, Technical University Delft, the Netherlands
R. Machunze, Technical University Delft, the Netherlands
Correspondent: Click to Email
We determined that flux angular distribution of deposited atoms from an elongated target in a dc-sputtering system is highly anisotropic. We used an aperture in front of a sample to determine the flux distribution experimentally. Monte-Carlo simulations of the deposition process agreed with the experiment quite well. The anisotropy and the width of the flux changed with Ar pressure. It is known that the flux distribution can play a decisive role in film's microstructure formation when surface diffusion is suppressed. This condition is satisfied when deposition of a high melting point metal is carried out at room temperature. We studied the microstructure of Cr films as a function of flux angular distribution. In all cases crystallographic texture was biaxial. Texture splitting was observed in different directions depending on Ar pressure. Two types of "domains" with crystallographic orientations tilted with respect to each other develop in thick films (>1µm). We demonstrate that the flux angular distribution is responsible for the texture splitting.