Atomic force microscopy and XRD analysis of silver films deposited by thermal evaporation

Thin films of pure silver were deposited on glass substrate by thermal evaporation process at room temperature. Surface characterization of the films was performed using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Thickness of the films varied between 20 nm and 72.8 nm. XRD analysis provided a sharp peak at 38.75 degrees from silver. These results indicated that the films deposited on glass substrates at room temperature are crystalline. Three-dimension and top view pictures of the films were obtained by AFM to study the grain size and its dependency on various factors. Average grain size increased with the thickness of the deposited films. A minimum grain size of 8 nm was obtained for 20 nm thick films, reaching 41.9 nm when the film size reaches 60 nm. Grain size was calculated from the information provided by the XRD spectrum and averaging method. We could not find any sequential variation in the grain size with the growth rate.