Atomic force microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy evaluation of adhesion and nanostructure of thin Cr films.

Cr thin films were deposited on float glass using electron beam (e-beam) phys. vapor deposition and radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering techniques. Surface morphol. of these Cr films was studied using AFM. The e-beam deposited Cr films consisted of isolated surface mounds while in RF sputtered samples, these mounds combined to form larger islands. However surface adhesive properties were obsd. for e-beam deposited films, as detd. from AFM force-distance curves, presumably due to the nanostructural differences. Similar amts. of adsorbed atm. carbonaceous contaminants and water vapor were detected on samples deposited using both methods with e-beam deposited samples having addnl. carbide species, as detd. by XPS data. The dominant crystallog. plane in both e-beam deposited and RF sputtered Cr thin films was (110) of body-centered cubic Cr metal structure as detd. from x-ray diffraction data. Weak (211) reflection was also obsd. in RF sputtered samples and was attributed to a different thin Cr film condensation and growth mechanism which resulted in nanostructural differences between films deposited using two different methods. [on SciFinder(R)]