Internal stress in sputtered gold electrodes and its significance for quartz resonators

Internal stress in magnetron sputtered gold films, as estimated with the cantilever beam deflection method, is correlated to deposition parameters such as pressure, temperature and deposition rate, as well as morphology and the amount of gas entrapped in the film. The compressive stress was found to increase with higher deposition rate, lower temperature or lower pressure which is in accordance with the elsewhere proposed atomic peening model.