The electrical and compositional structure of thin Ni-Cr films☆

Abstract Owing to its technological importance for thin film resistor elements, vacuum-deposited NiCr has been the subject of much investigation. Unfortunately most measurements of the resistivity and the temperature coefficient of resistivity have been made on films whose composition and structure were largely unknown. We describe work in which both pure and oxygen-contaminated films were deposited, electrically characterized and chemically analysed by Auger depth profiling, all in the same vacuum environment. The in situ Auger measurements were quantified both by the use of bulk alloy standards and by Rutherford backscattering analysis of the evaporated films.