Texture of Al thin films deposited by magnetron sputtering onto epitaxial W(001)

Highly textured epitaxial metallizations will be required for the next generation of devices with the main driving force being a reduction in electromigration. Herein a model system of 190 nm of Al on a 140 nm layer of W grown on MgO 〈00l〉 substrates was studied. The W layer was 〈00l〉 oriented and rotated 45° with respect to the MgO substrate to minimize the misfit; the remaining strain was accommodated by dislocations, evident in transmission electron microscopy images. From high-resolution x-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements, the out-of-plane lattice parameter was determined to be 3.175 Å, and the in-plane parameter was 3.153 Å, i.e., the W film sustained a strain resulting in a tetragonal distortion of the lattice. XRD pole figures showed that the Al had four fold symmetry and two dominant orientations, 〈016〉 and 〈3 9 11〉, which were twinned with multiple placements on the epitaxial W layer. The driving force for the tilted 〈001〉 and 〈011〉 orientations of Al on W is due to strain minimization through lattice matching. These results show that 〈00l〉 Al deposited at ambient conditions onto W is difficult to achieve and implies that electromigration difficulties are inherent.