Stress evolution during intermittent deposition of metallic thin films

Copper, silver and gold thin films were deposited on Si(0 0 1) substrates at room temperature in UHV vacuum system. The process was intermittent in a periodic way i.e. for each sublayer the deposition was interrupted for about 10 min. The total force per unit width (F/w) was in situ determined in deposited films by the use of the substrate curvature measurement method with laser scanning technique. Significant stress evolution during the interruption periods was observed for Cu and Ag layers whereas no evolution was observed for Au layers. Differences in the growth character are discussed basing on the Volmer–Weber growth model.