Low energy ion beam assisted deposition of Cu, Ag and Pt thin films

Low energy ion beam assisted deposition (IBAD) was employed to prepare Cu, Ag or Pt films on Mo/Si(100) substrate. When the film deposition was performed with simultaneous bombardment of 500 eV Ar ion beam normal to the film surface at ion/atom arrival ratio of 0.2, the prepared Cu films were (111) preferred orientation, Ag and Pt films were (111) and (200) mixed orientations. When the Ar ion beam was off-normal direction of the film surface 45°, the prepared Cu, Ag and Pt films all exhibited highly preferred (111) orientation. Monte Carlo method was used to calculate the sputtering yields of Ar ions incident on single crystal Ag (100) and (111) plane at various incident angles and azimuth angles respectively. The effects of channeling effects and surface free energy on the crystallographic texture of Cu, Ag and Pt films are discussed.