INVESTIGATION OF DIFFUSION ACROSS THE INTERFACE BETWEEN METAL-FILMS AND ALN OR AL2O3 SUBSTRATES

Vacuum annealing of W films/AlN samples, followed by Rutherford backsc attering spectrometry (RES) measurements, showed that medium energy io n beam assisted deposition (IBAD) techniques could remarkably hinder t he interdiffusion of interfacial atoms at elevated temperatures in com parison with evaporated W films/AlN samples. Similar results were obse rved in Mo thin films/AlN and Mo (or W) thin films/Al2O3 (0001) system s. An IBAD Mo films/Al2O3 (0001) sample was selected so as to investig ate the mechanism of medium energy IBAD resulting in a stable interfac e by high-resolution electron microscopy (HREM). An amorphous layer of 10-12 nm thickness between IBAD Mo films and Al2O3 (0001) substrate w as observed. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.