Pressure dependencies of copper oxidation for low- and high-temperature parabolic laws

Abstract

Studies of the oxidation kinetics of copper have been conducted in the thin-film range at temperatures of 383–398 K and in the oxygen pressure range of 0.278–21.27 kPa; whereas in the thick-film regime at 1123 K, studies have been conducted in the oxygen pressure range of 2.53–21.27 kPa. Furthermore, the effect of continuously impressed direct current with oxygen pressure variation in Wagner's parabolic range has been studied also in order to have a better understanding of the effective charge on the migrating species. In the low-temperature range, the rate constant, kP ∝\(P_{O_2 }^{1/4} \), suggesting that the migration of neutral vacancies in the growing film predominates. At high temperature, 1123 K, in the Wagnerian regime, the observed approximate pressure dependencies of the parabolic rate constants are the following: $$\begin{gathered} {\text{k}}_{\text{p}} (normal oxidation) \propto \sim {\text{P}}_{{\text{O}}_{\text{2}} }^{{\text{1/7}}} \hfill \\ {\text{k}}_{\text{p}} (sample cathodic) \propto \sim {\text{P}}_{{\text{O}}_{\text{2}} }^{{\text{1/5}}} \hfill \\ \end{gathered} $$ and $${\text{k}}_{\text{p}} (sample anodic) \propto \sim {\text{P}}_{{\text{O}}_{\text{2}} }^{{\text{1/10}}} $$ .