Abstract
The aging of island silver films deposited on glass at room temperature and at a pressure of 2×10-5 Torr was studied by monitoring the dc electrical resistance of the films. Films in the resistance range 1-11 MΩ/□ were studied under different conditions to ascertain the role of the residual gases and surface contaminants on the agglomeration rate. It was found that residual gases do not significantly affect the agglomeration rate, but a film of water vapor adsorbed on the glass surface retards the agglomeration to a great extent. An expression is arrived at for the functional dependence of the interisland spacing with time for the different conditions of study, assuming that the conduction in these island films is by quantum mechanical tunneling.
| Original language | English |
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| Pages (from-to) | 3184-3188 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | Journal of Applied Physics |
| Volume | 59 |
| Issue number | 9 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1986 |
| Externally published | Yes |