Theory of the optical properties of thin polycrystalline metal layers

Abstract

By considering the polycrystalline structure of thin metal layers, reactive as well as resistive components of the sheet impedance can be identified and related to the optical properties. In the cases studied, the reactance has been identified with the inter-grain capacitance and has been related simply to the geometry of the film structure. A final link between the optical properties and the film structure has been achieved with the derivation of an equation by which the grain boundary resistance can be calculated from the basic electronic properties of the material