Abstract
This research is to investigate the relationships between process parameters such as DC power, RF power, and oxygen partial pressure, and silver oxide thin films properties, such as composition, microstructures, optical and thermal properties. It is shown that silver oxides with higher thermal stability are easily obtained at higher deposition power and lower oxygen partial pressure. In DC sputtering processes, higher deposition power and lower oxygen partial pressure can increase the percentage of total metallic silver and crystallized silver in thin films. In RF sputtering processes, it was observed that total metallic silver percentage in thin films was independent of RF power when oxygen partial pressure exceeded some specific value. The thermal decomposition temperatures of silver oxides were obtained from TGA results and compared with the reported results.Finally, DVD-R with single-layer structure was made applying silver oxide film. Both the dynamic testings and AFM results of the DVD-R showed that lots of specifications were met. It demonstrated that silver oxides were potential candidates for optical recording.