Enhancing the conductivity and crystallinity of (111) platinum films via a two-temperature deposition and substrate annealing

Abstract

Developing routes to deposit highly conductive (111) oriented platinum films with sub-nanometer roughness will provide a platform to develop unique hexagonal and (111) oriented cubic materials. A two-temperature e-beam deposition process is proposed for the growth of (111) oriented platinum films on Al₂O₃ to simultaneously induce crystallographic texturing, improve conductivity, and reduce surface roughness. Depositing an initial platinum layer at 700 °C induces texturing then subsequently depositing at 500 °C promotes planar growth. The resulting (111) platinum films exhibit a narrow rocking curve full width at half maximum of 0.004°, a surface roughness of 0.20 nm, and conductivity of 8.99 × 10⁶ S/m simultaneously—reaching metrics that are not currently available by other deposition methods. The e-beam deposition methodology developed in this study provides a route to increase the performance of platinum as a conductive substrate.