Effect of substrate temperature on structure and surface morphology of Mo films deposited by pulsed laser technique

Molybdenum thin films were fabricated on Si(100) substrates by pulsed laser deposition technique. The effect of substrate temperature on structure and surface morphology of the molybdenum films was investigated at 10－6 Pa with laser pulses of 2 Hz repetition rate and 5.2 J/cm2 power density. Results of atomic force microscopy(AFM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) show that root mean square of the film surface roughness is below 2 nm, and indicate that the surface morphology and microstructures of the molybdenum films depend greatly on substrate temperature during growth. Structural quality and surface morphology of the molybdenum films are improved with the temperature increasing from 373 K to 573 K．