Kinetics of formation of Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> on aluminum thin films studied by electrical measurements

Abstract

In this work a simple method for monitoring the low temperature oxidation of aluminum thin films, which is based on measurements of electrical resistance using the four-probe technique, is proposed. Kinetic growth data of the aluminum oxide layer, obtained using different values of applied current on as-deposited metallic films is presented. The temperature gradient measured on the films were 2 °C and 9 °C when the corresponding applied currents were 0.1A and 0.2 A. The obtained data show a good agreement with the Cabrera-Mott's model for low temperature oxidation of metals. From kinetic curves, values of the energy barrier (U) and of the electrostatic potential (V) were obtained, which are reasonable with the values reported in the literature. The sample with a larger current applied, exhibited a higher oxidation rate due to a thermal effect and by the larger electrostatic potential established across the oxide layer. This simple method can be interesting to monitoring and controlling the oxidation process.