Texture of Cu and Dilute Binary Cu-Alloy Films:

The impact of 11 alloying elements, namely Mg, Ti, In, Sn, Al, Ag, Co, Nb and B, at two nominal concentration of 1 and 3 at.%, and Ir and W, at only a nominal concentration of 3 at.%, on the evolution of texture of Cu was investigated. The behavior of the alloy films was compared with that for pure Cu films. The films were electron beam evaporated onto oxidized Si wafers and had thicknesses in the range of 420-560 nm. Annealing was carried out at 3 C/s to 400, 650 and 950 C. For the lowest annealing temperature, the samples were held isothermally for 5 hours, while for the higher annealing temperatures, the samples were cooled immediately after reaching temperature. In all cases, annealing resulted in the strengthening of film texture. For most of the films, the <111> component either remained or became the strongest fiber component with the increase in annealing temperature. The interesting exceptions were the two Mgcontaining films for which the <110> component was the strongest. Whereas in the asdeposited state all alloys films, except the nominally 3 at.% Nb film, had weaker textures than pure Cu, certain combinations of alloy concentration and annealing conditions