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In recent years, there has been considerable interest in understanding the origin of residual stresses and microstructure in thin films. Many studies show that the mechanical, physical, and optical properties are strongly related to the film microstructure, which in turn is determined by the experimental conditions used in the deposition process. For the best-known examples, magnetron sputter-deposited refractory-metal films tend to have high residual stress, which undergoes a transition from compression to tension with increasing sputtering-gas pressure, resulting in dramatic differences in the film microstructure. To date, metallic tungsten films have been prepared by different deposition techniques including: electron-beam evaporation, 1 chemical vapor deposition, 2–4 and dc or rf magnetron sputtering. 5–13 Interest in this system has been motivated by its useful properties, particularly in respect of its industrial …