Structure and electrical properties of quaternary Cr–Si–Ni–W films prepared by ion beam sputter deposition

• Quaternary Cr–Si–Ni–W thin film was prepared by IBSD.
• As-deposited Cr–Si–Ni–W films show nanocrystalline state in XRD analysis.
• Big massive particles in Cr–Si–Ni–W films are mainly formed in deposition process.
• Conduction mechanism was discussed based on microscopic analysis.

Si-rich Cr–Si–Ni–W films were deposited by ion beam sputter deposition (IBSD) using a mother alloy target on polished Al2O3 substrates. Effects of ion beam voltage, annealing temperature and deposition time on sheet resistance and TCR of Cr–Si–Ni–W films were studied. Experimental results reveal that the as-deposited Cr–Si–Ni–W films obtained by IBSD show a crystalline state because of a high mobility of deposition atoms and molecules with more energy obtained from high energy ions. XRD and AFM analysis show that the big massive particles mainly composed of Si and CrSi2 in Cr–Si–Ni–W films are formed in the process of IBSD rather than in post-annealing stage. Long deposition time is significantly important to a decrease of the number and size of gaps between big particles in Cr–Si–Ni–W films and to an improvement of the continuity and compactness of film structure, influencing resistivity and TCR of deposition film. The conduction mechanism was discussed based on microscopic analysis and the conductive model proposed for Cr–Si–Ni–W films mainly composed of big particles.