Platinum thin films were deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering on SiO2/Si substrates. Argon-oxygen sputtering gas mixtures were used to control the microstructure and the preferred orientation of platinum films. As the oxygen fraction in the sputtering gas increased, the preferred orientation of as-deposited film was changed from (111) to random orientation. Post-sputtering anneal was done at 750–1,000°C range in air ambient to study the effects of the incorporated oxygen on the grain growth behaviors of platinum films. After sputtering and anneal at optimum conditions, the 1-µm thick Pt films completely transformed to giant grains with sizes as large as several millimeters. Furthermore, the preferred orientation of the giant grains could be controlled to either (111) or (200).
Highly (200)-oriented Pt films on SiO2/Si substrates were successfully prepared by a combination of a dc magnetron sputtering using Ar/O2 gas mixtures and subsequent controlled annealing. The intensity ratio of (200) to (111) planes (I200/I111) was over 200. The (200)-oriented Pt microcrystallites were less susceptible to amorphization due to their lower strain energy with oxygen incorporation than (111)-oriented ones. The controlled grain growth from the selected (200)-oriented seed microcrystallites during subsequent annealing provided a kinetic pathway where grain growth of the seed microcrystallites was predominant, while suppressing the nucleation of surface energy-driven, (111)-oriented seed microcrystallites and subsequent (111) preferred orientation.
200)-oriented Pt thin films were deposited on SiO 2 ͞Si substrates by dc magnetron sputtering using Ar͞O 2 gas mixtures. Oxygen incorporation into Pt films changed deposition rate, resistivity, stress, and preferred orientation of the films. Increase in film resistivity and decrease in tensile stress were presumed to be the results of the incorporated oxygen into grain boundaries, while the change of preferred orientation resulted from the oxygen incorporation into the Pt lattice. The preferential growth of (200) planes with less total strain energy from the incorporated oxygen resulted in strong (200) preferred orientation in Pt films.
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