The issue of stress in thin films and functional coatings is a persistent problem in materials science and technology that has congregated many efforts, both from experimental and fundamental points of view, to get a better understanding on how to deal with, how to tailor, and how to manage stress in many areas of applications. With the miniaturization of device components, the quest for increasingly complex film architectures and multiphase systems and the continuous demands for enhanced performance, there is a need toward the reliable assessment of stress on a submicron scale from spatially resolved techniques. Also, the stress evolution during film and coating synthesis using physical vapor deposition (PVD), chemical vapor deposition, plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), and related processes is the result of many interrelated factors and competing stress sources so that the task to provide a unified picture and a comprehensive model from the vast amount of stress data remains very challenging. This article summarizes the recent advances, challenges, and prospects of both fundamental and applied aspects of stress in thin films and engineering coatings and systems, based on recent achievements presented during the 2016 Stress Workshop entitled “Stress Evolution in Thin Films and Coatings: from Fundamental Understanding to Control.” Evaluation methods, implying wafer curvature, x-ray diffraction, or focused ion beam removal techniques, are reviewed. Selected examples of stress evolution in elemental and alloyed systems, graded layers, and multilayer-stacks as well as amorphous films deposited using a variety of PVD and PECVD techniques are highlighted. Based on mechanisms uncovered by in situ and real-time diagnostics, a kinetic model is outlined that is capable of reproducing the dependence of intrinsic (growth) stress on the grain size, growth rate, and deposited energy. The problems and solutions related to stress in the context of optical coatings, inorganic coatings on plastic substrates, and tribological coatings for aerospace applications are critically examined. This review also suggests strategies to mitigate excessive stress levels from novel coating synthesis perspectives to microstructural design approaches, including the ability to empower crack-based fabrication processes, pathways leading to stress relaxation and compensation, as well as management of the film and coating growth conditions with respect to energetic ion bombardment. Future opportunities and challenges for stress engineering and stress modeling are considered and outlined.

The Volmer-Weber growth of high-mobility metal films is associated with the development of a complex compressive-tensile-compressive stress behavior as the film deposition proceeds through nucleation of islands, coalescence, and formation of a continuous layer. The tensile force maximum has been attributed to the end of the islands coalescence stage, based on ex situ morphological observations. However, microstructural rearrangements are likely to occur in such films during post-deposition, somewhat biasing interpretations solely based on ex situ analysis. Here, by combining two simultaneous in situ and real-time optical sensing techniques, based on surface differential reflectance spectroscopy (SDRS) and change in wafer curvature probed by multibeam optical stress sensor (MOSS), we provide direct evidence that film continuity does coincide with tensile stress maximum during sputter deposition of a series of metal (Ag, Au, and Pd) films on amorphous SiO_x. Stress relaxation after growth interruption was testified from MOSS, whose magnitude scaled with adatom mobility, while no change in SDRS signal could be revealed, ruling out possible changes of the surface roughness at the micron scale.

A three-dimensional kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) model has been developed and used to simulate the microstructure and growth morphology of cubic transition metal nitride (TMN) thin films deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering. Results are presented for the case of stoichiometric TiN, chosen as a representative TMN prototype. The model is based on a NaCl-type rigid lattice and includes deposition and diffusion events for both N and Ti species. It is capable of reproducing voids and overhangs, as well as surface faceting. Simulations were carried out assuming a uniform flux of incoming particles approaching the surface at normal incidence. The ballistic deposition model is parametrized with an interaction parameter $r_0$ that mimics the capture distance at which incoming particles may stick on the surface, equivalently to a surface trapping mechanism. Two diffusion models are implemented, based on the different ways to compute the site-dependent activation energy for hopping atoms. The influence of temperature (300–500 K), deposition flux (0.1–100 monolayers/s), and interaction parameter $r_0$ (1.5–6.0 Å) on the obtained growth morphology are presented. Microstructures ranging from highly porous, [001]-oriented straight columns with smooth top surface to rough columns emerging with different crystallographic facets are reproduced, depending on kinetic restrictions, deposited energy (seemingly captured by $r_0)$, and shadowing effect. The development of facets is a direct consequence of the diffusion model which includes an intrinsic (minimum energy-based) diffusion anisotropy, although no crystallographic diffusion anisotropy was explicitly taken into account at this stage. The time-dependent morphological evolution is analyzed quantitatively to extract the growth exponent $\beta$ and roughness exponent $\alpha$, as indicators of kinetic roughening behavior. For dense TiN films, values of $\alpha \approx 0.7$ and $\beta =0.24$ are obtained in good agreement with existing experimental data. At this stage a single lattice is considered but the KMC model will be extended further to address more complex mechanisms, such as anisotropic surface diffusion and grain boundary migration at the origin of the competitive columnar growth observed in polycrystalline TiN-based films.

The structure, phase stability, and mechanical properties of ternary alloys of the Zr-Ta-N system are investigated by combining thin-film growth and ab initio calculations. ${\mathrm{Zr}}_{1-x}{\mathrm{Ta}}_x\mathrm{N}$ films with $0\le x\le 1$ were deposited by reactive magnetron cosputtering in $\mathrm{Ar}+{\mathrm{N}}_2$ plasma discharge and their structural properties characterized by x-ray diffraction. We considered both ordered and disordered alloys, using supercells and special quasirandom structure approaches, to account for different possible metal atom distributions on the cation sublattice. Density functional theory within the generalized gradient approximation was employed to calculate the electronic structure as well as predict the evolution of the lattice parameter and key mechanical properties, including single-crystal elastic constants and polycrystalline elastic moduli, of ternary ${\mathrm{Zr}}_{1-x}{\mathrm{Ta}}_x\mathrm{N}$ compounds with cubic rocksalt structure. These calculated values are compared with experimental data from thin-film measurements using Brillouin light scattering and nanoindentation tests. We also study the validity of Vegard's empirical rule and the effect of growth-dependent stresses on the lattice parameter. The thermal stability of these ${\mathrm{Zr}}_{1-x}{\mathrm{Ta}}_x\mathrm{N}$ films is also studied, based on their structural and mechanical response upon vacuum annealing at 850 °C for 3 h. Our findings demonstrate that ${\mathrm{Zr}}_{1-x}{\mathrm{Ta}}_x\mathrm{N}$ alloys with Ta fraction $0.51⩽x⩽0.78$ exhibit enhanced toughness, while retaining high hardness ∼30 GPa, as a result of increased valence electron concentration and phase stability tuning. Calculations performed for disordered or ordered structures both lead to the same conclusion regarding the mechanical behavior of these nitride alloys, in agreement with recent literature findings [H. Kindlund, D. G. Sangiovanni, L. Martinez-de-Olcoz, J. Lu, J. Jensen, J. Birch, I. Petrov, J. E. Greene, V. Chirita, and L. Hultman, APL Materials 1, 042104 (2013)].