Microscopic study of ultra-thin gold layers on polyethyleneterephthalate

Continuous and discontinuous gold layers sputtered on polyethyleneterephthalate (PET) were characterized using atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and by reflection of microwave radiation. The changes in the surface morphology of the continuous and discontinuous gold layers as a function of the sputtering time were clearly observed by AFM technique. SEM imaging of very thin gold layers was adversely affected by specimen charging. For medium sputtering times, when a continuous gold coverage is already formed, the SEM technique still show the presence of regions with very thin gold coverage which gradually disappear at longer sputtering times. Both, the AFM and SEM techniques confirmed that in the course of the gold deposition the initially small gold clusters grow and finally associate in a continuous layer. It was shown that the sub-microne metallic structures could be modeled by artificial, significantly larger structures prepared on PET by lithographic etching. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.