THE OXIDATION OF POLYCRYSTALLINE SILVER FILMS BY THERMAL, GROUND-STATE ATOMIC OXYGEN

Experimental results indicate a linear relationship between oxide laye r thickness and exposure time for thin Ag films exposed to thermal, gr ound-state atomic oxygen fluxes of the order of 10(17) atoms/(CM2 s). Exposure times ranged between 10 and 120 s, and all exposures were mad e at ambient temperature. The techniques of scanning electron microsco py (SEM) and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) were used to characteri ze stress-induced damage in the thickest oxide layers. This damage was also observed using RBS (Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy) tech niques which were applied to determine oxide layer thicknesses as a fu nction of exposure time. Results are compared with data recently obtai ned from similar measurements using thin, polycrystalline Cu films.