Study of Chromium thin films deposited by DC magnetron sputtering under glancing angle deposition at low working pressure

Sputtering is one of the most popular physical deposition methods due to their versatility and reproducibility. Synthesis of Cr thin films by DC magnetron sputtering using glancing angle deposition (GLAD) has been reported. Chromium thin films have been prepared at two different working pressure($2.0{\times}10-2$, 30, $3.3{\times}10-3torr$) on Si-wafer substrate using magnetron sputtering with glancing angle deposition (GLAD) technique. The thickness of Cr thin films on the substrate was adjusted about 1 mm. The electrical property was measured by four-point probe method. For the measurement of density in the films, an X-ray reflectivity (XRR) was carried out. The sheet resistance and column angle increased with the increase of glancing angle. However, nanohardness and density of Cr thin films decreased as the glancing angle increased. The measured density for the Cr thin films decreased from 6.1 to 3.8 g/cc as the glancing angle increased from $0^{\circ}$ to $90^{\circ}$ degree. The low density of Cr thin films is resulted from the isolated columnar structure of samples. The evolution of the isolated columnar structure was enhanced at the conditions of low sputter pressure and high glancing angle. This GLAD technique can be potentially applied to the synthesis of thin films requiring porous and uniform coating such as thin film catalysts or gas sensors.