THE EFFECT OF PROCESS CONDITIONS ON THE PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF SILVER FILMS PREPARED BY USING SPUTTERING ON POLYESTER SUBSTRATE

Reflective silver films with high quality were prepared on polyester substrate by using sputter deposit on techniques. Best reflectivity thin films of silver were produced with process parameters of $10^{-6}$ Torr as base pressure, 50 W as R.F. power, 5 mTorr as working pressure, and 10 sccm as Ar flow rate. Being deposited with an R.F. power of 50 W, Ag films revealed the highest 96.3 % reflectance as illuminated with a light of 700 nm wavelength. The adhesion of sample films showed as high as 14 to $20{\;}kg/\textrm{cm}^2$, which is suitable for industrial purposes. Their film crystallinity and orientation resulted in the planes of (111) and (200) for the growth with a preferred orientation of <111>, in general. The cross-sections of thin film specimens showed columnar structures. It is noted that columns became coarsened and less dense as R.F. power increased, resulting in a low reflectivity for the product film.