EFFECTS OF OXYGEN ION-IMPLANTATION ON THE STRUCTURE AND PROPERTIES OF ALUMINUM THIN-FILMS

Aluminum thin films having a nominal thickness of 350 nm were implanted with oxygen ions to integrated dosage of 10**1**7-10**1**8 atom/cm**2. Structural investigations by x-ray diffraction techniques indicated that ion implanation substantially decreased the particle size, increased the magnitude of microstrains and introduced significant amount of stacking faults. Implantation also tended to introduce macroscopic compressive stresses. Both structural and electrical resistivity measurements showed that the ion implanted structure has exceptional thermal stability. Cross-stripe experiments gave direct evidence that oxygen ion implantation decreases the grain boundary diffusivity in aluminum.