Stress, Texture and Phase Transformation in Titanium Thin Films

Abstract

{111} fiber textured face centered cubic (fcc) titanium has been found to coexist with the {0002} fiber textured hexagonal close packed (hcp) titanium in polycrystalline titanium (Ti) thin films (thickness: 144 nm to 720 nm) deposited on Si (100) substrate by magnetron sputtering. X-ray diffraction investigation confirms that relative phase fraction of such metastable fcc Ti phase decreases with increasing film thickness indicating thickness dependent fcc-hcp phase transformation of titanium. Texture development in hcp Ti phase was due to film microstructure (thickness effect) rather than the phase transformation. Diffraction stress analysis (by d-sin(2)psi method) indicates that fcc to hcp phase transformation is also accompanied by the reduction of compressive stress in the hcp Ti phase with increasing film thickness. Strain energy calculations for both phases of titanium indicate that fcc Ti is a more stable phase compared to hcp Ti at relatively low film thickness (144 nm to 432 nm). It has been concluded that film stress favours fcc to hcp phase transformation towards the higher film thickness. Reverse transformation (hcp to fcc) occurs towards the lower film thickness.