The Development of Texture in Co-Cr Films

Texture development as a function of film thickness (5-980 nm) was investigated for two series of Co/sub 81/Cr/sub 19/ films. In general, the films were strongly textured. The orientation ratio, OR/sub c/, was used to describe the strength of the texture. Experimental data showed that for the Series A films (5-200 nm), the OR/sub c/ value increased with increasing him thickness, while for Series B films (46-980 nm), the OR/sub c/ as a function of the film thickness described a single peak curve, with its maximum near 130 nm. The calculated local orientation ratios OR/sub cx/ for both the Series A and B films had maxima near 110 nm. The strain in Co-Cr films also changes with the film thickness. In the case of the Series B films, the strain along the film normal gradually changed from a tensile to a compressive strain with increasing film thickness, and near 130 nm the film was in a stress-free condition. It was also discovered that for Co-Cr films thinner than 46 nm, the aspect ratio of the grains approaches 1 and the typical columnar structure of grains is not observed, although (0002) fibre texture still exists.