STRUCTURE RELATED OPTICAL AND MECHANICAL-PROPERTIES OF OXYGEN DOPED AL FILMS

The present results clearly show that the structure of oxygen doped Al films varies from columnar polycrystalline to nanocrystalline and amo rphous structure with increasing oxygen concentration. Through the who le scale of oxygen content the structural changes are accompanied by r emarkable changes of optical and mechanical properties. The reflectanc e varies from pure metallic to pure dielectric behaviour. The hardness increases rapidly with increasing oxygen content in agreement with th e Hall-Petch relation. The polarization resistance, however, is better for pure Al films. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A.