CORRELATION BETWEEN THE ADHESION AND THE THERMAL CONTACT RESISTANCE -EFFECTS OF SUBSTRATE SURFACE ION-BOMBARDMENT ETCHING

Earlier the effects of ion bombardment etching ceramic substrates (Al2 O3) were studied on the adhesion strength and thermal contact resistan ce of sputtered copper films with the use of the scratch adhesion test and the thermal measurements, respectively. Most relations between th ermal contact resistance and mean critical load use scratch tests to c haracterize adhesion. In order to understand the origin of the mean cr itical load and the thermal contact resistance evolution, observations were made by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray photoelectr on spectroscopy (XPS). The results obtained have shown that the struct ural change of the copper film and the formation of a complex interfac e seem to be one of the main reasons for this evolution in argon treat ed samples. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.