STRUCTURE OF BE FILMS QUENCHED FROM THE VAPOR

The crystallite boundary mismatch in crystalline films leads to tensile stresses which act on the substrate. Due to these stresses the substrate is bended. In the dense random packing of atoms in an amorphous film local tensile- and compressive stresses compensate and thus the films seem to be free of stresses with regard to the substrate. From this point of view the measurement of mechanical stresses produced by vapour quenched films can be used for structural analysis. Thus an apparatus is described which allows in situ measurements of mechanical stresses and electrical resistivity of vapour quenched films from 1.2 K to 400 K. An investigation of beryllium films revealed that stresses are produced even by films with a superconducting transition temperature of 9.6 K. From this fact it can be concluded that vapour quenched Be is not completely amorphous. Furthermore, it is shown that inhomogeneous films" exist with a two phase double layer structure which is responsible for some peculiarities reported in the literature. © 1979 Springer-Verlag."