Copper oxide films were reduced to copper with an atmospheric pressure argon and hydrogen plasma at temperatures between 25 and 300 °C. A 50-nm-thick CuO layer on a Cu-coated Si wafer, 200 mm in diameter, was fully reduced by the plasma in 200 s at 200 °C. The activation energy for the reaction was found to be 3.7 kcal/mol. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy confirmed that the copper oxide was reduced to metallic copper. Cross-sectional scanning electron microscopy revealed that voids appeared between the oxide and the base metal layer when the CuO was thicker than 20 nm. These voids remained at the interface after reduction of the copper oxide back to copper metal.

中文翻译：

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大气压等离子体将氧化铜还原为金属铜

在25至300°C的温度下，用大气压氩气和氢等离子体将氧化铜膜还原为铜。在200°C的条件下，等离子体在200 s内完全还原了直径为200 mm的覆铜硅晶片上50纳米厚的CuO层。发现该反应的活化能为3.7kcal / mol。X射线光电子能谱证实了氧化铜被还原为金属铜。截面扫描电子显微镜显示，当CuO的厚度大于20nm时，在氧化物和贱金属层之间出现空隙。在将氧化铜还原为铜金属之后，这些空隙保留在界面处。