Post-deposition reduction of internal stress in thin films: The case of hfN coatings bombarded with Au ions

摘要

The post-deposition bombardment of reactively sputtered HfN thin films with energetic (1, 2.5 and 5 MeV) gold ions to a fluence of 10~14 cm~-2 resulted in a considerable reduction of high internal stresses which were estimated from the measurements of the surface curvature. The higher the energy of the gold species the lower degree of relaxation was registered. The observed phenomena are attributed here to the transport of the interstitial defects within the thermal spikes induced by bombarding HfN with Au ions.