The growth stress of metal films was measured continuously both during as well as after their deposition under UHV-conditions with a cantilever beam technique. The metal films were deposited onto 10 rim thick alumina substrate films prepared by reactive evaporation of Al in an oxygen atmosphere. The substrate temperature for the metal deposition was varied from -20°C to 500°C.

The growth stress of both titanium and aluminum films deposited at room temperature and above is characteristic of island growth and the formation of a polycrystalline film. The film stress built up in these films decreases with increasing substrate temperature. Below RT the growth stress of titanium films indicates a transition from island growth to layer by layer growth due to a reduced adatom mobility. The temperature range in which this transition in the growth mode occurs is strongly affected by impurities in the Ti-evaporation source material and gas ambient.

In the last part of this paper we present results of experiments in which the above metals were evaporated simultaneously from separate sources to form alloy films with TiAl3-stoichiometry. Sudden changes in the incremental film stress are tentatively attributed to segregation and phase formation phenomena.