RESISTIVITY ANISOTROPY OF NICKEL FILMS INDUCED BY OBLIQUE-INCIDENCE SPUTTER DEPOSITION

The effect of incidence angle on resistivity anisotropy in sputter-deposited thin (around 50 nm) film is studied. The resistivity anisotropy of nickel films is found to change sensitively with incidence angle similar to that found in vapor-deposited Ni-Fe films at oblique incidence. Thin copper films, by contrast, show no appreciable resistivity anisotropy. It is concluded that the anisotropy of nickel films is attributable to the fact that the atoms have a dominant direction (parallel to the target axis) among the various directions of incidence and to the low surface diffusivity of nickel atoms.