1982 Volume 25 Issue 8 Pages 561-567
Thin nickel oxide layers grown on nickel films by sputter-oxidation in an oxygen plasma were studied by ellipsometry and ion microanalysis. It was found that the saturated oxide thickness depends on the oxygen pressure. For oxygen pressure of (4.55.3) ×10-4 Pa, the saturated oxide thickness was found to be 7090 Å by ellipsometry. This result was supported by the IMA measurement.
Replica electron microscopy of the nickel oxide layer indicated that the oxide, grown in the oxygen pressure of (4.55.3) ×10-4 Pa, had uniform distribution and that the surface got rough with sputter-oxidation time. However the oxide films grown in 7.5×10-4 Pa had many cracks and showed no saturation thickness.