Annealing behavior of gold absorber in x-ray masks

The stress of gold electrodeposited on membranes of Si, SiC, SiN, and BN was measured using a high precision resonant frequency technique. Measurements were made at room temperature (RT) and between 20 and 350 °C. After annealing, the RT stress was always more tensile than the as deposited stress. This is caused by plastic deformation of the gold at high temperature, resulting from its higher expansion coefficient relative to the substrate. © 1992.