Part VI – June 1968 - Papers - X-Ray Investigations on the Structure of Silver Films Evaporated on CaF2 and NaCl Single-Crystal Substrates

In situ X-ray investigations were made on polycrys-talline silver films deposited by vacuum evaporation on (111) CaF2 and (100) NaCl single-crystal substrates at 80°K. The films were evaporated and annealed in an X-ray diffractometer attachment having a residual gas pressure of 2 x lo-' Torr. All measurements were made without exposing the films to the atmosphere. Measurements were made on the films in the as-deposited state and after various annealing treatments. The intrinsic stacking and twin fault densities, the magnitudes of the uniform and nonuniform strains, and the crystallite sizes were determined. In addition the textures in the films were measured qualitatively. The results obtained for the as-deposited films on single-crystal substrates are in substantial agreement with previously reported results for silver films deposited on glass. Intrinsic stacking and twin faults, as well as uniform and nonuniform strains, were present in these films. During the various annealing treatments (up to 350°C) the faults and nonuniform strains annealed out. Considerable grain growth and texture changes occurred also. The effects were much greater for the NaCl substrate than for the CaFz substrate. The relative magnitudes of the grain growth in the variously oriented grains could be explained qualitatively in terms of the thermal strains and strain energies introduced into the differently oriented grains during the initial, irreversible anneal. These strains were due to the different thermal expansion coefficients of the film and substrate. X-RAY diffraction measurements on evaporated films deposited on substrates at low temperature have the advantage that many of the imperfections introduced into the film during deposition are "frozen in". Thus, the influence of a very important experimental variable, substrate temperature, on the imperfection structure of evaporated metal films may be studied. Moreover, the effects of annealing such films makes possible the study of thermally activated recovery processes in these films. The present study was designed to determine the influence of single-crystal substrates on the resultant film structure relative to the previous results obtained using glass substrates.' To this end great care was taken to keep the experimental variables the same in the two cases. Different experimental conditions would, of course, result in films having different physical properties. Again the initial substrate temperature was in the neighborhood of 80°K and the films were subsequently annealed to 350°C. The pure metal silver was chosen for evaporation, primarily because of its relatively low stacking fault energy and consequent high fault density in the as-deposited state. The silver films were formed by evaporation onto air-cleaved {ill} CaF, and (100) NaCl surfaces cooled to 80°K in an X-ray diffractometer attachment2 having a base residual gas pressure of 2 X l0-' Torr. The films were not exposed to the atmosphere until all of the X-ray data had been recorded. In this way one of the most important experimental variables, environment, could be well-controlled and reproduced. X-ray measurements were made at the temperature of deposition and included determinations of the diffraction line peak positions, line shapes, and integrated intensities. The peak position measurements were used to determine the intrinsic stacking fault densities and the average uniform strain in the film. The shapes of the diffraction lines provided information on the twin fault density, true crystallite size, and average nonuniform strain. The preferred orientation in the film was determined qualitatively from the integrated intensities. I) EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE The evaporator attachmentZ was charged with 99.999 pct Ag pellets positioned in a tantalum filament which had been outgassed previously at l0-8 Torr. The CaFz and NaCl single crystals were cleaved in air and then placed in position in the chamber so that their cleavage surfaces were on the diffractometer axis. The chamber was prepumped using a sorption pump, sealed off, and then baked at 150°C for 24 hr. The ion pump operated during the bakeout cycle. The substrate was then heated to 500° C by means of an auxiliary heater and kept hot until the rest of the chamber was cooled slowly to room temperature. This bakeout procedure consistently resulted in an ultimate pressure in the low lo-' Torr range. The substrate was then cooled down on 80°K. Its temperature was monitored by a thermocouple wedged into the rear of the copper substrate holder. The diffracted intensity and peak position of the 111, 222, and 333 CaF, lines were measured prior to evaporation. Nickel-filtered, pulse-height-discriminated copper radiation was used. Similar measurements were made for the 200 and 400 lines from NaC1. These measurements were used as a lattice parameter check and to determine the thickness of the evaporated silver films from the attenuation of the substrate lines. The evaporation rates were approximately 3A per sec for both films while the maximum pressures during evaporation were 3 x lo- ' and 7 x 10"8 Torr for the CaF, and NaCl cases, respectively. The film thickness was measured by the attenuation of the CaF, and NaCl substrate lines and by at optical interference method. Values of 1700 and 1500A, respectively, were obtained for the silver