Growth and structure of silver and silver oxide thin films on sapphire

The growth and epitaxy of Ag and Ag 2O films on r-cut sapphire surfaces is reported for several different growth conditions. Ag was deposited by electron beam evaporation in vacuum, in a molecular O 2 background, and in the presence of an electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) oxygen plasma. The presenc...

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Veröffentlicht in:Thin solid films 2004-12, Vol.468 (1), p.57-64
Hauptverfasser: Bock, F.X., Christensen, T.M., Rivers, S.B., Doucette, L.D., Lad, R.J.
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Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:The growth and epitaxy of Ag and Ag 2O films on r-cut sapphire surfaces is reported for several different growth conditions. Ag was deposited by electron beam evaporation in vacuum, in a molecular O 2 background, and in the presence of an electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) oxygen plasma. The presence of an oxygen background converts the random polycrystalline growth of Ag in vacuum to three dimensional epitaxial growth of Ag with a 〈110〉 surface normal. At sufficiently low deposition rates (0.1 nm/s), the presence of the ECR oxygen plasma leads to the growth of Ag 2O films with a one dimensional epitaxy having the 〈111〉 direction normal to the surface but random orientation about this normal. The effects of thermal decomposition of Ag 2O were examined by annealing the samples in vacuum above 625 K and characterizing the surfaces with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy to observe the segregation of silver into islands as the Ag 2O decomposes.
ISSN:0040-6090
1879-2731
DOI:10.1016/j.tsf.2004.04.009