Gurvinderjit,

I suspect that your film is "beading" like water on a waxed surface and
forming into discrete gold islands.  Gold does not wet or adhere to oxides
well, particularly in very thin layers.  Heating the surface gives the Au
atoms the energy they need to migrate.

Depending upon your application, you should try a thicker layer and/or
flashes (thin layers) of Cr/Cu, Ti or Ti/W under the Au for better adhesion.
Good luck.

--
Marc Straub
Staff Engineer, Product Development Services
Coventor, Inc.  (Formerly Microcosm Technologies)
7 Corporate Park, Suite 260
Irvine, CA  92606
Ph: 949-756-0033  Fax: 949-756-0070
[email protected]  [remove the "XXXX"]


> -----Original Message-----
> Date: Mon, 20 May 2002 11:20:15 +0530 (IST)
> From: Gurvinderjit Singh 
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: [mems-talk] Gold film
> Reply-To: [email protected]
>
> Dear friend i have one query.
> I am depositing gold film (thickness 0.1 micron)by thermal evaporation on
> oxides,
> but when  i am annealing my sample to 700K this gold film become non
> -conductive may be  duo to formation of gold oxide. But from
> literature i found
> that gold should not become oxide till 1200K. I also read people using
> gold electrodes (thin film by thermal evaporation) on their samples and
> work till 900k kindly let me know where i am doing mistake, wether to take
> more thick film or something else.
>
>
>
> __________________________________________________________________
> _____________
>
>
>    Gurvinderjit Singh Ahluwalia             Tel: +91-0731-488656
>      Laser Materials Division               Fax: +91-0731-488650
>    Centre for Advanced Technology         email: [email protected]
>    Indore - 452 013  INDIA