Annealing Effects in the Electrical Resistivity in AuCu/Si Thin Films

Au/Cu (6 to 470 nm/100 nm, thickness) systems were deposited by thermal evaporation on p-type silicon (100) substrates. The Au/Cu/Si systems were annealed between 100 and 400degC to form AuCu alloys by two methods. The morphology, the crystallinity, and the electrical resistivity rho were measured in AuCu bilayers. The morphology and crystalline structure in alloys were analyzed by AFM and X-ray diffraction techniques, respectively. The rho values were measured by the four-probe technique. The electrical resistivity in AuCu/Si alloys change slightly with decreasing the total thickness, but very different from pure Au and Cu thin films. The electrical resistivity of the annealed alloys presents important differences with the annealing temperature and the annealing method