Growth, Structural and Mechanical Characterization and Reliability of Chemical Vapor Deposited Co and Co3O4 Thin Films as Candidate Materials for Sensing Applications

The adhesion and mechanical stability of thin film coatings on substrates is increasingly becoming a key issue in device reliability as magnetic and storage technology driven products demand smaller, thinner and more complex functional coatings. In the present study, chemical vapor deposited Co and Co3O4 thin films on SiO2 and Si substrates are produced, respectively. Chemical vapor deposition is the most widely used deposition technique which produces thin films well adherent to the substrate. Co and Co3O4 thin films can be used in innovative applications such as magnetic sensors, data storage devices and protective layers. The produced thin films are characterized using nanoindentation technique and their nanomechanical properties (hardness and elastic modulus) are obtained. Finally, an evaluation of the reliability of each thin film (wear analysis) is performed using the hardness to elastic modulus ratio in correlation to the ratio of irreversible work to total work for a complete loading-unloading procedure.