Surface Texturing Of Multilayer Ag/Cu Films By Sputter-Etching

Magnetron sputtered Ag, Cu and Ag/Cu multilayer films deposited on glass and butyl rubber disk substrates have been rf sputter-etched in a specially designed diode system. The films have been characterized by Auger electron spectroscopy, a four-probe dc method and scanning electron microscopy. The electrical measurements indicate that the Cu and Ag films ha ve discontinuous structure below 200 angstrom. Structural and surface variations appearing in multilayer films on rubber substrates 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.