Preferred orientation in erbium thin films observed using synchrotron radiation

This paper describes the use of energy-dispersive diffraction using synchrotron radiation to obtain preliminary measurements of pole figures for a 6000 Å erbium film deposited by UHV evaporation on molybdenum substrates. A low glancing angle is used and the pole-figure polar distance is scanned by rotating the sample about the direction of the incident beam. Correction formulae are derived for pole-figure intensity and position in this geometry. Results confirm strong 002 orientation of films deposited at a 673 K substrate temperature (near the middle of zone II for erbium), show that at an ambient substrate temperature (zone I) there is a mixture of 002 and 101 orientations, and demonstrate strong dependence of the 002 orientation direction (for zone II temperatures) on the angle of vapour incidence during deposition.