Negative substrate bias induced modifications of the physical properties of DC sputter deposited nano-crystalline Mo thin films

Negative bias on the substrate during DC sputter deposition of nano-crystalline molybdenum thin films has been utilized to tune their properties for solar cells and the cryogenic radiation detector applications. Films have been deposited on Si substrates under different out of plane negative biases aiming to improve their physical properties such as the sheet resistance, superconducting transition temperature, width of transition and surface roughness. Significant modifications in the electrical and surface morphological properties of nano-crystalline Mo thin films have been reported. The superconducting transition temperature and crystallite size of the films does not show much improvement but the surface roughness and electrical resistivity of the film have been improved by the application of substrate bias. (paper)