Abstract
In this study, the effects of alloying elements and thermal aging on the contact resistance of electroplated gold alloy layers were investigated by surface analysis using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The contact resistance of Au-Ag alloy was lower than that of Au-Ni or Au-Co alloy after thermal aging. The XPS results show that nickel and oxygen present as nickel oxides such as NiO and <TEX>$Ni_2O_3$</TEX> on the surface of gold layers after thermal aging. The increase in the contact resistance after thermal aging is attributable to the nickel oxide layer formed on the surface of the gold layers. The content of nickel diffused from the underlayer during the thermal aging was high in the order of Au-Co, Au-Ni and Au-Ag alloy because the area of grain boundary was large in the order of Au-Ag, Au-Ni and Au-Co alloy.
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