Engineering Commons^™

Growth And Characterization Of Nanoscale Thin Films, Erik Thomas Wolter

Honors Program Theses

Thin manganese films were grown by thermal evaporation in high vacuum. The growth rate was varied to determine how the growth rate affects the continuity of ultra-thin films. The resistance was measured with the two-point method in situ and the data was recorded digitally. The resistance was converted to resistivity and this was plotted against thickness. It was found that resistivity decreases exponentially as the film begins to form in islands. The film reaches a critical thickness as the islands coalesce and the data can then be fitted with Fuchs’ equation. The resistivity continues to decrease but the minimum resistivity …