Field and potential around local scatterers in thin metal films studied by scanning tunneling potentiometry

Ramaswamy, Geetha and Raychaudhuri, AK (1999) Field and potential around local scatterers in thin metal films studied by scanning tunneling potentiometry. In: Applied Physics Letters, 75 (13). pp. 1982-1984.

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Abstract

We report the direct observation of electrochemical potential and local transport field variations near scatterers like grain boundaries, triple points, and voids in thin platinum films studied by scanning tunneling potentiometry. The field is highest at a void, followed by a triple point and a grain boundary. The local transport field near a void can even be four orders of magnitude higher than the macroscopic field, indicating that the void is the most likely place for an electromigration induced failure. The field build up for a particular type of scatterer depends on the grain connectivity. We estimate an average grain boundary reflection coefficient for the film from the temperature dependence of its resistivity.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	Applied Physics Letters
Publisher:	American Institute of Physics
Additional Information:	Copyright of this article belongs to American Institute of Physics.
Department/Centre:	Division of Physical & Mathematical Sciences > Physics
Date Deposited:	21 Jul 2009 10:31
Last Modified:	19 Sep 2010 05:28
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/19458

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