Annealing of silver nanolayers sputtered on polytetrafluoroethylene

Silver nanolayers sputtered on polytetrafluoroethylene and their changes induced by post‐deposition annealing at 100–300 °C are studied. Changes in surface morphology and roughness are examined by atomic force microscopy and by measurement of electrical sheet resistance by two‐point technique. Chemical composition was determined by X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and electrokinetic analysis in dependence on the gold layer thickness. The annealing at 300 °C leads to significant rearrangement of the silver layer, and the transition threshold increases to 35 nm. The presence of oxidized structures on silver‐coated samples is observed in XPS spectra and by electrokinetic analysis, too. Annealing of pristine and silver‐coated poly(tetrafluoroethylene) at 300 °C results in significant change of the sample surface morphology and chemistry. There is observed formation of isolated silver islands on the surface, which could be connected with silver melting. Later, the silver agglomeration takes place. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.