Study and comparison of deposition rates, grain size of Ag and Cu thin films with respect to sputtering parameters, and annealing temperature

Abstract

Deposition rates of Ag and Cu thin films with respect to sputtering parameters have been compared. Discharge current range of 200-1200 mA, gas pressure (Ar) with range of 0.02-0.2 mbar has been used. Dependency of rate, on current gas pressure and horizontal and also vertical distance has been studied. Deposition rate for copper was 0.5-2.8 nm/s while for silver films was 1.8 to 7.9 nm/s, and thickness of films was 135-1400 nm and 20-150 nm respectively. By help of curve fitting these results have been leaded to an empirical relationship. X-Ray Diffraction (X.R.D) of these thin films have been obtained for various thickness and deposition condition as well as different annealing temperature in argon flow oven (up to 500 °C) and peak (111) of Cu and Ag which were more pronounced was chosen for investigation and its variation with different coating condition have been carried out for grain size studies. © 2007 IOP Publishing Ltd.