Experimental Investigation of Thermally Grown Indium Film's Structural and Tribological Properties

Indium thin film growth found numerous applications, such as cold welding of infrared detectors and readoutintegrated circuits (ROIC) to form sensor chips. In film is grown on the Si substrate by thermal evaporation. The XRD results indicated the tetragonal bcc phase in the (101) preferential plane. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) indicated an uniform, continuous film covering the whole surface. The EDS examination confirmed the pure In film. The atomic force microscopy (AFM) determined the average roughness and root mean square values at 38.5 nm and 47.9 nm, respectively. The ellipsometry measurement was done to check the surface condition and measure film thickness. The atomic force microscopy in contact mode determined the adhesion force 51.32 nN, thermodynamic adhesion -work according to the DMT and JKR theories 0.817 J/m 2 (DMT), 1.089 J/m 2 , (JKR) and coefficient of friction 0.0049. The good adhesion of the film was tested via scotch tape.