ABSTRACT

Silver thin films degrade when subjected to environmental tests at high humidity. As environmental tests are typically conducted in air, the effect of oxygen, a component other than water vapour, cannot be ignored. In this study, silver thin films deposited in vacuum were subjected to environmental tests in an atmosphere of water vapour, oxygen, and a mixture of water vapour and oxygen in the same chamber. The surface morphologies of the samples were examined using optical and atomic force microscopy. A comparison of surface roughness showed that the mixture of water vapour and oxygen gave the highest increase of the roughness of the silver surface, followed by water vapour. The degradation caused by water vapour and oxygen has been discussed before, but this is the first time that the effect of water vapour alone has been revealed. As surface roughness affects optical properties, a corresponding decrease in specular reflectance was observed.

摘要

在高湿度环境下进行环境测试时，银薄膜会降解。由于环境测试通常在空气中进行，因此氧气（水蒸气以外的成分）的影响不容忽视。在这项研究中，在真空中沉积的银薄膜在同一腔室中的水蒸气、氧气以及水蒸气和氧气混合物的气氛中进行了环境测试。使用光学和原子力显微镜检查样品的表面形态。表面粗糙度的比较表明，水蒸气和氧气的混合物使银表面的粗糙度增加最多，其次是水蒸气。之前已经讨论过水蒸气和氧气引起的降解，但这是第一次揭示单独水蒸气的影响。