Model for intrinsic stress formation in amorphous thin films.

Metallic amorphous thin films evaporated on a substrate can be characterized by different growth regimes in dependence of the film thickness concerning surface morphology and intrinsic film stresses, independent of the details of the applied material systems. Here, a model is presented to link the surface topography and characteristic surface measures with the observed film stresses. This allows quantitative prediction of stresses in dependence of film preparation parameters for a tailored film production.