Hi Thomas,
I suspect that most of the stress you see does not come from the
as-deposited film, but rather from the densification during anneal. In
general, if you want denser films you can increase the dep temperature
and/or a change the dep process to a lower dep rate.
The only other thing I can suggest would be to try a gradually increased
annealing temp (say 50degC) with each film dep. This could help reflow
the underlying films to perhaps allow better overall densification.

-Mike P.

Jon Doe wrote:

> Hi Mike:
> That's what we are currently doing, but the films
> still delaminate after structuring. Do you have an
> idea how do manipulate the process parameters: gas
> flows, vacuum, power, bias etc. to release the tensile
> stress?
> Thanks for your input.
>
> Thomas