Interface dynamics during Cu shadow-mask physical vapor deposition on nonmetallic substrates

摘要

We have studied the interface dynamics during the growth of microscopic ordered Cu features deposited on different nonmetallic substrates by shadow-mask physical vapor deposition. Optical and atomic force microscopy data show the formation of either transparent or opaque patterned Cu depending on the film thickness. The evolution of the patterned film, the shadowed and the exposed regions, and the pattern shape are well described in terms of a continuous mesoscopic model, implying that masked deposition induces (through evaporation-condensation processes) an overall downhill current that results, under the small slope approximation, in Edwards-Wilkinson behavior.