Textures and structures of vapor deposits

The texture of vapor deposits (PVD and CVD) changes from the orientation that places the lowest energy lattice plane parallel to the substrate under the condition of low atom or ion concentration adjacent to the deposit, to the orientation that places the higher energy crystal planes parallel to the substrate as the atom or ion concentration adjacent to the deposit increases. However, in the early stage of deposition, the deposit-substrate interface energy and the surface energy constitute the most important energies of the system. Therefore, if the lattice match is established between the substrate and the deposit without generating much strain energy, the epitaxial growth takes place to reduce the interfacial energy. When the epitaxial growth does not take place, the surface energy is dominant in the early stage of deposition and the lowest energy crystal plane tends to be placed parallel to the substrate up to a critical thickness. The critical thickness depends on the deposition conditions. If the deposition condition does not favor placing the lowest energy crystal plane parallel to the substrate, the initial texture will change to that compatible with the deposition condition as the film thickness increases, and the texture turnover thickness will be short. The microstructure and surface topography of deposits are related to their textures. (C) 1999 Kluwer Academic Publishers.