Amorphous-to-crystalline transition during the early stages of thin film growth of Cr on SiO2

摘要: The growth of sputter-deposited Cr thin films on amorphous SiO2 during the early stages was studied using transmission electron microscopy. Amorphous three-dimensional islands were first formed, and then they grew with continuously increasing density slowly size as deposition proceeded. When these began to coalesce at a nominal film thickness 2.3–3.0 nm, abruptly crystallized into randomly oriented crystalline nuclei. depth profile analysis by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy indicates existence interfacial Cr–O interactions. After excluding possibilities kinetic limitation mixing, thermodynamic model employed explain size-dependent amorphous-to-crystalline transition. Our results suggest that interfacial-interaction-induced strain relaxation island/substrate interfaces might result in stabilization substrate-supported below critical size.