Roughness effects on the thermal stability of thin films

In this work, we investigate interface roughness effects on the energetic terms that play a key role on the thermal stability of thin silicide films. The roughness is modeled as a self-affine structure with power spectrum similar to sigma(2) xi(2)(1+aq(2) xi(2))(-1-H) convoluted with a domain size distribution proportional to e(-pi R2/xi 2) to account for grain finite size effects in pori crystalline films. The parameters sigma, xi, H, and zeta denote respectively the rms roughness, the roughness correlation length, the roughness exponent, and the average domain size. The roughness effect becomes significant for small H (<0.5), and large long-wavelength roughness or sigma/xi(similar to 0.1). Indeed, in systems where agglomeration occurs via thermal grooving, roughness may increase significantly the critical grain sizes