Influence of substrates on the microstructure and electrical properties of Si/Mo thin films

Mo/Si thin films have been successful deposited on several substrates by using RF magnetron sputtering method and influence of these substrates on the phase structures, surface morphologies and electrical properties of the Mo/Si films have also been investigated. Results obtained from the analyses of X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscope (AFM) and scanning electrical microscopy (SEM) show that the films deposited on Si and quartz glass substrate are amorphous, but those deposited on Al2O3 substrate are polycrystalline. Four-probe resistance meter was used to characterize their sheet resistance and the results reveal that annealing temperature affects their sheet resistance significantly. As the increase of annealing temperature, the sheet resistance of the films deposited on Si and Al2O3 substrate decreases while the one of the films deposited on quartz glass substrate increases abnormally.