Influence of Plasma Surface Treatment of Polyimide on the Microstructure of Aluminum Thin Films

The effects of plasma treatment of polyimide substrates on the texture and grain size distribution of aluminum thin films were studied. Oxygen-argon plasma treatment increased the average grain size and enhanced the (111) film texture. For short oxygen-argon plasma treatment times, the deposited Al films showed a (111) texture with a bimodal grain structure and even a {111}<112¯> type in-plane texture. The preferential nucleation and grain growth of (111) grains are discussed in terms of the interface energy anisotropy.