Macrostress formation in thin films and its investigation by X-ray diffraction

Elastic stresses and strains are almost always present in thin films deposited on substrates. In the majority of cases these stresses are residual stresses, introduced into the system during deposition or subsequent processing and they me mostly biaxial at the thin film substrate interface. Two significant reasons of macrostress formation in thin films can be distinguished thermal and/or epitaxial mismatch between the thin film and substrate thermal coefficients and lattice parameters.