Chemical reaction of atomic oxygen with evaporated films of copper, part 4

Evaporated copper films were exposed to an atomic oxygen flux of 1.4 x 10(exp 17) atoms/sq cm per sec at temperatures in the range 285 to 375 F (140 to 191 C) for time intervals between 2 and 50 minutes. Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS) was used to determine the thickness of the oxide layers formed and the ratio of the number of copper to oxygen atoms in the layers. Oxide film thicknesses ranged from 50 to 3000 A (0.005 to 0.3 microns, or equivalently, 5 x 10(exp -9) to 3 x 10(exp -7); it was determined that the primary oxide phase was Cu2O. The growth law was found to be parabolic (L(t) varies as t(exp 1/2)), in which the oxide thickness L(t) increases as the square root of the exposure time t. The analysis of the data is consistent with either of the two parabolic growth laws. (The thin-film parabolic growth law is based on the assumption that the process is diffusion controlled, with the space charge within the growing oxide layer being negligible. The thick-film parabolic growth law is also based on a diffusion controlled process, but space-charge neutrality prevails locally within very thick oxides.) In the absence of a voltage measurement across the growing oxide, a distinction between the two mechanisms cannot be made, nor can growth by the diffusion of neutral atomic oxygen be entirely ruled out. The activation energy for the reaction is on the order of 1.1 eV (1.76 x 10(exp -19) joule, or equivalently, 25.3 kcal/mole)