Incidence Angle Dependences of Columnar Grain Structure and Texture in Obliquely Deposited Iron Films

Abstract

From the viewpoint of the crystallographic contribution to the formation of columnar grain structure we investigated the incidence angle dependences of the columnar grain structure and the texture for iron films prepared at various deposition rates R . The films were vapor-deposited at incidence angles of 15°, 30°, 45° and 65° on glass substrates heated at 473 K. The X-ray analysis using the Schulz method revealed that there exist three kinds of texture: [100], type I [111] and type II [111] textures. From the observation using replica electron microscopy and the measurement of electrical resistivity, it was found that the two characteristics of the columnar grain structure (inclination and bundling of columnar grains) depend on the kind of texture irrespective of the incidence angle. For the films with type I [111] texture, the inclination angle and the degree of bundling of columnar grains take constant values with R at a given incidence angle. For the films with [100] or type II [111] texture, on the other hand, the inclination angle and the degree of bundling change markedly with R even if the incidence angle is constant. These changes in columnar grain structure with R depending on the kind of texture can be understood by considering the appearance of the {100} crystal habit.