Nano-structural Characteristics of Ag UHV Deposited Thin Films Using X-ray diffraction line broadening analysis

The influence of deposition rate, deposition angle and film thickness on nano-structure of silver thin films deposited on glass substrates under UHV condition by electron beam evaporation is investigated. Crystallite size, lattice con- stant, preferred orientation, and nano-strain in Ag films are determined. (111) preferred orientation is observed for silver films, which is dependent on deposition rate, film thickness and angle of incidence, with the highest value at the highest deposition rate examined (i.e., 22.5 ?/s). Nano-structural parameters such as crystallite size (size of co- herently diffracting domains) and nano-strain are evaluated using Scherrer and lattice strain relations. Results show that the Crystallite sizes for Ag thin films increase with film thickness, and deposition rate. The variation of nano- strain and lattice constants with deposition rate and film thickness is the same. It is shown that the influence of depo- sition rate (particularly at high deposition rate) on the nano-structure of thin films studied in this work is the same as substrate temperature reported by Savaloni et al (2006).