| Abstract: | Annealing of thin Ag films covered by Bi1−xSbx (x = 0.09) and Sb overlayers, respectively, has been investigated by measuring the electrical resistance. Material exchange by diffusion leading to the formation of an intermetallic phase between Ag and Sb was found to be mainly responsible for the annealing effects. By X-ray and electron diffraction the intermetallic compound has been identified as the ε-phase Ag3Sb. The diffusion processes due to annealing were studied by SIMS. A correlation between the measured resistance and electron micrographs of the cross-sectional film structure was found. |
