Interface dynamics during Cu shadow-mask physical vapor deposition on nonmetallic substrates

P. C. DOS SANTOS CLARO; P. L. SCHILARDI; B. BLUM; M. F. CASTEZ; R. C. SALVAREZZA

PHYSICAL REVIEW B - CONDENSED MATTER AND MATERIALS PHYSICS

The American Physical Society

Lugar: New York; Año: 2007 vol. 76 p. 2054361 - 2054365

0163-1829

   We have studied the interface dynamics during the growth of microscopic ordered Cu features deposited ondifferent nonmetallic substrates by shadow-mask physical vapor deposition. Optical and atomic force micros-copy data show the formation of either transparent or opaque patterned Cu depending on the film thickness.The evolution of the patterned film, the shadowed and the exposed regions, and the pattern shape are welldescribed in terms of a continuous mesoscopic model, implying that masked deposition induces throughevaporation-condensation processes an overall downhill current that results, under the small slope approxi-mation, in Edwards-Wilkinson behavior.