SURFACE TEXTURING OF MULTILAYER AG CU FILMS BY SPUTTER-ETCHING/

Magnetron sputtered Ag, Cu and Ag/Cu multilayer films deposited on gla ss and butyl rubber disk substrates have been rf sputter-etched in a s pecially designed diode system. The films have been characterized by A uger electron spectroscopy, a four-probe dc method and scanning electr on microscopy. The electrical measurements indicate that the Cu and Ag films ha ve discontinuous structure below 200 angstrom. Structural an d surface variations appearing in multilayer films on rubber substrate s as a result of etching depended on the time of etching and appeared to be related to the surface geometry on which the ions are incident. Several mechanisms have been proposed to explain the surface texturing by ion etching of the multilayer Ag/Cu films.