INFLUENCE OF SUBSTRATE TOPOGRAPHY ON THE NUCLEATION AND GROWTH OF 321 STAINLESS STEEL THIN FILMS PRODUCED BY MAGNETRON SPUTTERING

Yongzhong Jin (), Dongliang Liu, Wei Wu, Yali Sun, Zuxiao Yu and Hong Luo
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Yongzhong Jin: Department of Materials and Chemistry Engineering, Sichuan University of Science and Engineering, 180 Huixing Road, Zigong, Sichuan 643000, China
Dongliang Liu: Department of Materials and Chemistry Engineering, Sichuan University of Science and Engineering, 180 Huixing Road, Zigong, Sichuan 643000, China
Wei Wu: Department of Materials and Chemistry Engineering, Sichuan University of Science and Engineering, 180 Huixing Road, Zigong, Sichuan 643000, China;
Yali Sun: Department of Materials and Chemistry Engineering, Sichuan University of Science and Engineering, 180 Huixing Road, Zigong, Sichuan 643000, China
Zuxiao Yu: Department of Materials and Chemistry Engineering, Sichuan University of Science and Engineering, 180 Huixing Road, Zigong, Sichuan 643000, China
Hong Luo: Department of Materials and Chemistry Engineering, Sichuan University of Science and Engineering, 180 Huixing Road, Zigong, Sichuan 643000, China

Surface Review and Letters (SRL), 2008, vol. 15, issue 04, 411-418

Abstract: We have investigated the effects of substrate topography on the nucleation and growth behavior of 321 stainless steel (ss) films, introducing textured surfaces into mica substrates by the abrasion treatment. In this study, two groups of samples were prepared at three different sputtering time within 12 s using radio frequency (r.f.) magnetron sputtering and characterized by atomic force microscopy. Good nucleation uniformity has been obtained on the unabraded mica substrates due to the statistical distribution of nucleation sites. Especially, we have already observed an interesting unusual nucleation phenomenon, the island–rim structure on the abraded mica substrates after 4 s, where the island is fractal-like and the rim around the island was only occupied by few grains for nucleation. These ramified islands were located at the wide grooves introduced as predominate nucleation sites. The island–rim structure formed in initial nucleation process is closely associated withx,yvelocity components of surface atoms and the distribution of active sites (related intimately to the surface free energy σ and strain energy ε) for nucleation. With the increasing of the sputtering time, voids and overlarge grains have been observed in the island–rim region after the sputtering time of 8 s and 12 s, respectively.

Keywords: 321 stainless steel films; magnetron sputtering; substrate topography; nucleation and growth (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
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DOI: 10.1142/S0218625X08011536

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