Surface Analysis of Copper-Tin Thin Films Synthesized by rf Magnetron Co-sputtering

Copper-Tin (CuSn) thin films were synthsized by rf magnetron co-sputtering method with pure Cu and Sn metal targets with various rf powers and sputtering times. The obtained CuSn thin films were characterized by a surface profiler (alpha step), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray induced Auger electron spectroscopy (XAES), and contact angle measurement. The deposition rates were calculated by the thickness of CuSn thin films and sputtering times. We observed hexagonal Cu20Sn6 and cubic Cu39Sn11 phases from the films by XRD measurement. From the survey XPS spectra, the Cu and Sn main peaks were observed. Therefore, we could conclude CuSn thin films were successfully fabricated on the substrate in this study. The changes of oxidation states and chemical environment of the films were investigated with high resolution XPS spectra in the regions of Cu 2p, Cu LMM, and Sn 3d. Surface free energy (SFE) and wettability of the CuSn thin films were studied with distilled water (DW) and ethylene glycol (EG) using the contact angle measurement. The total SFE of CuSn thin films decreased as rf power on Cu target increased. The contribution to the total SFE of dispersive SFE was relatively superior to polar SFE.