Study of the Structural Properties and Morphologies of Gold Thin Films Deposition by Annealing

In this paper, the effect of annealing temperature on properties of gold thin films has been investigated. Au thin films have been deposited on glass substrates by the electron beam coating technique and afterward subjected to annealing in a mixed ambient of air and oxygen at 575, 650, 725, 800 and 875 K for 1 h and then cold slowly. The crystallographic structure of Au thin films was studied as a function of the annealing temperature. X-ray diffraction was used to estimate the crystallographic texture, grain size. All the films were found to have crystalline structure. The films morphologies were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The surface topographies were studied using atomic force microscopy (AFM). (AFM) analysis showed the gold layer growth to be running over isolated islands. The XRD and SEM and AFM results confirmed the presence of gold particle in thin films.