The growth of nanostructured physical vapor deposited thin films at oblique angles is becoming a hot topic for the development of a large variety of applications. Up to now, empirical relations, such as the so-called tangent rule, have been uncritically applied to account for the development of the nanostructure of these thin films even when they do not accurately reproduce most experimental results. In the present paper, the growth of thin films at oblique angles is analyzed under the premises of a recently proposed surface trapping mechanism. The authors demonstrate that this process mediates the effective shadowing area and determines the relation between the incident angle of the deposition flux and the tilt angle of the columnar thin film nanostructures. The analysis of experimental data for a large variety of materials obtained in our laboratory and taken from the literature supports the existence of a connection between the surface trapping efficiency and the metallic character of the deposited materials. The implications of these predictive conclusions for the development of new applications based on oblique angle deposited thin films are discussed.
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July 2014
Research Article|
June 13 2014
Nanocolumnar growth of thin films deposited at oblique angles: Beyond the tangent rule
Rafael Alvarez;
Rafael Alvarez
a)
Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Sevilla (CSIC-US)
, Av. Americo Vespucio 49, 41092 Seville, Spain
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Carmen Lopez-Santos;
Carmen Lopez-Santos
Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Sevilla (CSIC-US)
, Av. Americo Vespucio 49, 41092 Seville, Spain
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Julian Parra-Barranco;
Julian Parra-Barranco
Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Sevilla (CSIC-US)
, Av. Americo Vespucio 49, 41092 Seville, Spain
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Victor Rico;
Victor Rico
Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Sevilla (CSIC-US)
, Av. Americo Vespucio 49, 41092 Seville, Spain
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Angel Barranco;
Angel Barranco
Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Sevilla (CSIC-US)
, Av. Americo Vespucio 49, 41092 Seville, Spain
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Jose Cotrino;
Jose Cotrino
Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Sevilla (CSIC-US)
, Av. Americo Vespucio 49, 41092 Seville, Spain and Departamento de Física Atómica, Molecular y Nuclear (Universidad de Sevilla). Av. Reina Mercedes, s/n, 41012 Seville, Spain
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Agustin R. Gonzalez-Elipe;
Agustin R. Gonzalez-Elipe
Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Sevilla (CSIC-US)
, Av. Americo Vespucio 49, 41092 Seville, Spain
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Alberto Palmero
Alberto Palmero
Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Sevilla (CSIC-US)
, Av. Americo Vespucio 49, 41092 Seville, Spain
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Rafael Alvarez
a)
Carmen Lopez-Santos
Julian Parra-Barranco
Victor Rico
Angel Barranco
Jose Cotrino
Agustin R. Gonzalez-Elipe
Alberto Palmero
Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Sevilla (CSIC-US)
, Av. Americo Vespucio 49, 41092 Seville, Spain
a)
Electronic mail: [email protected]
J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 32, 041802 (2014)
Article history
Received:
April 11 2014
Accepted:
May 30 2014
Citation
Rafael Alvarez, Carmen Lopez-Santos, Julian Parra-Barranco, Victor Rico, Angel Barranco, Jose Cotrino, Agustin R. Gonzalez-Elipe, Alberto Palmero; Nanocolumnar growth of thin films deposited at oblique angles: Beyond the tangent rule. J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 1 July 2014; 32 (4): 041802. https://doi.org/10.1116/1.4882877
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