Repeated deposition studies of the occurrence of large scale coalescence and effect of electric field on the ageing of island silver films

Presented in this paper are the results of an investigation into the influence of a dc electric field on the growth and post-deposition resistance changes in island Ag-films deposited on glass substrates at room temperature. Based on the functional dependence of the film resistance on time, an agglomeration rate is defined with the theory of mobility coalescence invoked to explain the resistance changes in these films. It was found that the magnitude of the electric field (9 V/cm) did not influence the post-deposition coalescence but did affect the initial resistance of the film. Films studied under relative humidity conditions of greater than 85% showed an interesting crossover of the functioanl dependence of the film resistance on time consistent with earlier findings in this laboratory. Repeated deposition studies revealed that the agglomeration rate fell drastically beyond a particular deposition cycle indicating that the percolation threshold had been reached with the occurrence of large scale coalescence (LSC). © 1988.