Track: Manufacturing

Abstract

In this article, a detailed image analysis on the field emission scanning electron microscopy of aluminum thin films sputtered on stainless steel substrates was presented. The effect of RF power on the structural and topography characteristics of the films was described. The physical observations of the surface micrographs, quantitative particle size and distribution, fractal dimensions, average surface roughness and widths of the multifractal spectra of all the films were related to the change in RF power. There existed a correlation between increasing RF power and fractal dimension and multifractal spectrum whereas there was no relationship established between power and height roughness of the films. Fractal and multifractal approaches appeared to provide better description of the effect of RF power on the sputtered Al thin films.