The electrical conductivity of copper and tin thin films vacuum deposited in a lateral electric field

Copper and tin thin films of different thicknesses in the coalescence thickness range (160, 210 and 260 Å) were grown by vacuum deposition onto clean glass substrates at room temperature under a pressure of 2 × 10-5 Torr in different electric fields between 0 and 200 V cm-1 aligned parallel to the substrates. The electrical conductivities of the films were measured immediately after formation both in situ and after letting air into the system. We found that the application of an electric field of less than 60 V cm-1 decreased the resistance of the films. However, the application of stronger electric fields produced an increase in the film resistance. This is attributed to a disturbance of the electrostatic forces between the growing islands by the redistribution of charges in the presence of the applied electric field which causes an increased rate of coalescence of the islands in the film. © 1981.