Thin metal films deposited on ceramic substrates tend to undergo dewetting (agglomeration) as a response to an increase of the homological temperature. The driving force for this process is the reduction of the total surface and interface energy of the system. The solid state dewetting process of Ni on several ceramic substrates (sapphire, MgO, and Yittria Stabilized Zirconia) has been carefully studied in the past. Yet, the influence of small amount of additives on the dewetting of Ni films has received much less attention.
In this work we characterized the dewetting of 40 nm thick Ni films in the temperatures range of 700°C-900°C and explored the influence of some additives using mainly HRSEM and STEM methods. We propose new ways to control the morphology of the dewetted Ni films, and the rate of the Ni film agglomeration.
