A comparison of preparation methods of copper surfaces for in situ scanning force microscopy investigations

Scanning force microscopy (SFM) studies of atmospheric corrosion of pure co pper require a clean, homogeneous and smooth metal surface in order to imag e small changes. In this study various preparation methods for samples of c opper sheets were tested: chemical etching, mechanical polishing as well as electrochemical polishing. In addition to copper sheet samples also specim en of sputtered copper obtained by physical vapour deposition on quartz sub strates were chemically etched. In conclusion, mechanical polishing with mo nocrystalline diamond paste and electrochemical polishing of copper sheet y ielded the most suitable surface condition for in situ investigations by me ans of SFM. Tapping mode atomic force microscopy (TM-AFM) was applied to ga in information about the topography changes of the copper surface. Furtherm ore, the root mean square (rms) roughness of the sample surfaces was determ ined and delivered additional arguments for the applicability of the variou s surface treatments for in situ studies. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. Al l rights reserved.