Wetting and energetics of solid Au and Au-Ge/SiC interfaces

• Published in: Acta materialia Vol. 46; no. 14; pp. 4853 - 4859
• Main Authors: WANG, Z, WYNBLATT, P
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Science 01.09.1998
• Subjects: Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties; Exact sciences and technology; Mechanical and acoustical properties; adhesion; Physics; Solid surfaces and solid-solid interfaces; Surfaces and interfaces; thin films and whiskers (structure and nonelectronic properties); Gold; Wetting; Segregation; Silicon carbides; Coverage; Contact angle; Solid-solid interfaces; Experimental study; Adhesion; Interfaces; Wettability; Monolayers; Germanium additions
• ISSN: 1359-6454; 1873-2453
• DOI: 10.1016/S1359-6454(98)00202-X

A solid state wetting technique has been used to investigate the effects of alloying Au with Ge on the wetting and energetics of Au /SiC interfaces at 1123K. Germanium was found to segregate to the Au/SiC interface, thereby lowering the contact angle of Au on SiC from 133 to 110, and doubling the work of adhesion of Au on SiC. Calculations based on a monolayer model predict a segregation of 0.89 monolayers of Ge at the Au/SiC interface for Au containing 2.3 at.% Ge. This agrees reasonably well with a coverage of 0.6 monolayers Ge at the Au/SiC interface obtained by direct measurements based on the crater edge profiling technique. The work also demonstrates that simple models of interfacial composition can be combined with the Gibbs adsorption isotherm to provide reliable estimates of interfacial composition at complex four-component interfaces.