Inclining columnar structure in Co-Cr films prepared by roll magnetron sputtering

Co-Cr films, sputtered onto continuously transported substrates, exhibit columnar structure bowing according to incident angle variation during deposition. Surface grains were found to be elongated along the substrate moving direction. This factor seems to be related with the relative film motion. The column inclination is well approximated by the incident angle of the atom beam vector sum, considering the incidence probability from the two line target sources. It was found, by analysing the surface grain shapes using a high speed image processor, that the Co-Cr grains exhibited a sharp normal probability distribution in regard to diameter.