Texture evolution and stress in silver thin films on different substrates using X-ray diffraction

Substrate surface roughness effects on Ag film texture were investigated using pole figure analysis. X-ray diffraction results confirmed that Ag thin films on smooth SiO₂ substrates had strong {111} texture when compared with Ag films on polyethylene naphthalate (PEN). It was noted that the difference of strain energy density (ΔE_e) in Ag film on PEN (0.039 MPa) was almost 5 times greater than that on SiO₂ (0.0084 MPa). The comparison between surface and strain energies revealed that the {111} texture of Ag thin film on SiO₂ was explained by minimization of the surface energy and the weaker {111} texture of Ag on PEN was a result of reduced diffusion length of Ag adatoms on the rough PEN surface.