Why is Stress Measurement Critical in Thin Film Research?

By Susha Cheriyedath, M.Sc.Feb 16 2024Reviewed by Megan Craig, M.Sc. Discover the significance of stress measurement in thin films for industries like semiconductors and medical equipment, and explore various methods for precise quantification. Thin films form the basis of many industries today, including semiconductors, electric vehicles, smart optical coatings, sophisticated medical equipment, and protective layers on high-temperature alloys.

See our full range of equipment. The nature of the stress highly depends on the deposition technique. For instance, sputtering yields compressed films, while films from chemical vapor deposition are tensed.2 Phase transformations, such as from amorphous to polycrystalline during post-deposition thermal treatments, may add to the film stress.2 The deformations that occur to thin films can be macroscopically measured in terms of a change in curvature on their surfaces.

Methods and Techniques for Stress Measurement in Thin Films With recent technological advancements, several methods and techniques have evolved for near-to-exact stress measurements. These involve either measuring the substrate deformation produced by the stress in the film and then calculating the stress or measuring the strain in the film and then calculating the stress using Hooke’s law.

In the case of reflecting surfaces, a widely used technique involves measuring the deflection of a laser beam reflected from the sample as it is scanned across its surface. Multi-beam optical sensor is one such stress measuring tool developed by k-Space ASSOCIATES, INC that uses a laser beam to measure the thin films' curvature in situ optically during the deposition process. 1Raman spectroscopy is also widely used to measure strain in silicon substrates with high spatial resolution.

Applications of Stress Measurement in Thin Film Characterization Microstructural characteristics of thin films, such as grain size and grain morphology, thermal and electrical transport, and optical properties, can vary widely with deposition techniques. Internal residual stresses retained in thin films due to the deposition process significantly influence the microstructural properties of the films.

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