Novel model for film growth based on surface temperature developing during magnetron sputtering

New physical phenomenon consisting in development of the surface temperature Tsurf, which being equal to the substrate temperature Ts at the beginning of deposition, steeply increases and becomes several times higher than Ts at the end of the process, is revealed by means of IR-camera and new calorimetric method during sputter deposition of metal films. The reason for the phenomenon is the formation of a liquid-like layer on the growth surface with extremely low (∼109 times lower than for metals) thermal conductivity. Variation in the film structure along thickness correlates with the variation in Tsurf. To explain these effects we developed a model according to which film grows by “gas → liquid → solid” rather than “gas → solid” mechanism which is realized provided that the film grows from energetic atoms.