Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 February 2011
Ta films 25Å to 200Å in thickness were sputter-deposited using different sputter gas (Ar) pressures and cathode power settings. The average in-plane stresses were determined using double crystal diffraction topography (DCDT). X-ray analysis (using the grazing incidence x-ray scattering (GIXS) geometry) was performed using a synchrotron light source. To study microstructure and phase content, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and transmission electron diffraction (TED) were used. Well resolved x-ray patterns were collected for all of the films. The DCDT stress data was found to be consistent with stress effects evident in the GIXS data. In general, residual stress state was not strongly dependent upon Ar pressure. The strongest evidence of amorphous content was found in both x-ray and TED data taken from 25Å thick films deposited using 2mTorr Ar pressure and 460 W cathode power. These results show that it is possible to create and study ultra-thin Ta films which posses a range of residual stresses and phase compositions.