Structure related optical and mechanical properties of oxygen doped Al films

The present results clearly show that the structure of oxygen doped Al films varies from columnar polycrystalline to nanocrystalline and amorphous structure with increasing oxygen concentration. Through the whole scale of oxygen content the structural changes are accompanied by remarkable changes of optical and mechanical properties. The reflectance varies from pure metallic to pure dielectric behaviour. The hardness increases rapidly with increasing oxygen content in agreement with the Hall-Petch relation. The polarization resistance, however, is better for pure Al films. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A.