Abbreviated Journal Title
Appl. Phys. Lett.
Keywords
SURFACE SELF-DIFFUSION; X-RAY-SCATTERING; THIN-FILMS; MULTILAYERS; ENERGY; Physics, Applied
Abstract
Synchrotron x-ray scattering was used to study the evolution of interface roughness with annealing for a series of Cu thin films. The films were encapsulated in SiO2 or Ta/SiO2 and prepared by sputter deposition. Specular x-ray reflectivity was used to determine the root mean square roughness for both the upper and the lower Cu/SiO2 (or Cu/Ta) interfaces. The lateral roughness was studied by diffuse x-ray reflectivity. Annealing the films at 600 degrees C resulted in a smoothing of only the upper interface for the Cu/SiO2 samples, while the lower Cu/SiO2 interfaces and both interfaces for the Ta encapsulated films did not evolve significantly. This difference in kinetics is consistent with the lower diffusivity expected of Cu in a Cu/Ta interface (compared to a Cu/SiO2 interface) and the mechanical rigidity of the lower Cu/SiO2 interface. As a function of roughness wavelength, the upper Cu/SiO2 interfaces exhibited a roughness decay with annealing that was only 12.5% of that expected for classical capillarity driven smoothening of a free surface.
Journal Title
Applied Physics Letters
Volume
100
Issue/Number
2
Publication Date
1-1-2012
Document Type
Article
DOI Link
Language
English
First Page
4
WOS Identifier
ISSN
0003-6951
Recommended Citation
Warren, Andrew P.; Sun, Tik; Yao, Bo; Barmak, Katayun; Toney, Michael F.; and Coffey, Kevin R., "Evolution of nanoscale roughness in Cu/SiO2 and Cu/Ta interfaces" (2012). Faculty Bibliography 2010s. 3469.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/facultybib2010/3469
Comments
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