A MODEL FOR TEXTURE EVOLUTION IN A GROWING FILM

A model was developed in order to calculate texture evolution, where t wo major orientations may be present. The tendency for the lowest poss ible surface energy was taken as the driving force for texture changes during deposition. It was found that an initially isotropic angular d istribution evolves towards a bimodal one and finally to a texture wit h a sharp distribution around the direction of lowest surface energy. A continuous sharpening of the angular distribution around the main di rections was found in all cases. In some cases the texture can turn ov er from one orientation to the other one. All these effects could be o bserved in the experimental study of TIN layers deposited on various s ubstrates using the PVD technique.