THE USE OF STIMULATED BOUNDARY GAS-RELEASE FOR DETERMINATION OF THE ADHESION OF THIN-FILMS BY THE BLISTER TEST

The processes of stimulated gas release and gas blister growth were in vestigated at the interface of 100 nm thick silver films on glass subs trates after irradiation by hydrogen ions of 1 MeV energy to fluences of 1 x 10(13) - 1 x 10(15) ion cm(-2). An interference microscope was used to examine the gas blisters and to measure the blister parameters . The relationship of these processes to the adhesion of a thin film s ystem was established. A method to determine the adhesion and to compu te the adhesion characteristics in the film-substrate system is descri bed. The calculated energy of the detachment ranges between 0.06 and 2 8 J m(-2). Based on the results of this study, a series of practical a pproaches are proposed to measure the adhesion of thin films to substr ates with the method of stimulated gas release.