Textures of Thin Films

摘要

Thin film techniques are widly used to protect materials against corrosive attacks, wear or heat respectively and to realize special physical properties (e.g. magnetic, optic, dielectric films). Mostly one applies methods characterized by a deposition of atomic particles (ions, neutrals) on substrates like chemical vapour deposition (CVD), physical vapour deposition (PVD) or electro-chemical deposition (ECD). Due to the directed incidence of the particles and the nearly one dimensional macroscopic growth of the crystalline films usually their microstructure is highly textured and stands out for strong anisotropic properties. As the examples in fig. 1 show, the concrete morphology of such films can be quite different, indicating the complexity of the factors acting in orientation selection during the layer formation.