Temperature effect on properties of Be films grown by thermal evaporation

The Be films were prepared by thermal evaporation at the different heating temperature on the Si(1 0 0) and glass substrates, respectively. The prepared samples were characterized and the results showed that the grain diameter in the Be films transited from 30 nm to 300 nm, the surface roughness of the Be films changed from 4 nm to 60 nm, and the film growth rate increased from 0.9 nm/min to 7.3 nm/min during the heating temperature was varied between 980 °C and 1120 °C. Meanwhile, the results indicated the crystallinity of the Be films changed better, and their electric resistance decreased rapidly. However, the microhardness of the Be films firstly increased from 6.98 GPa to 10.93 GPa, lastly decreased to 5.69 GPa. The intrinsic relationship between the Be film's crystallinity and their electric properties and mechanical properties was also investigated. The findings explained the heating temperature had a great influence on properties of the Be films grown by thermal evaporation.