IN SITU STRESS MEASUREMENTS OF Co-BASED MULTILAYER FILMS

Abstract

We have constructed an apparatus for in sity measurement of stress of the film prepared by sputtering using an optical noncontact displacement detector. A Change of the gap distance between the detector and the substrate, caused by stress of a deposited film, was detected by a corresponding change of the reflectivity. The sensitivity of the displacement detector was 5.9 μV/Å and thus, it was turned out to be good enough to detect stress caused by deposition of a monoatomic layer. The apparatus was applied to in situ stress measurements of Co/X(X=Pd or Pt) multilayer thin films prepared on the glass substrates by dc magnetron sputtering. At the very beginning of the deposition, both Co and X sublayers have subjected to their own intrinsic stresses. However, when the film was thicker than about 100 Å, constant tensile stress in the Co sublayer and compressive stress in the X sublayer were observed, which is believed to be related to a lattice mismatch between the matching planes of Co and X.