Microwave Reflectivity From Gold Sputtered Nanolayer

This paper deals with reflectivity of a gold layer of nanometer-scale thickness sputtered on a dielectric foil at microwave frequencies. A model of nanometer-scale spheres characterizes the behavior of the layer. For short sputtering times, these spheres are separated, and later they touch each other to form a continuous layer. The structure is analyzed in several ways. The first model, as suggested in the literature, replaces the spheres by their electric dipole moments, while the second, newly proposed model replaces them by their mutual capacities. The structure is also being investigated by the CST Microwave Studio software. The data provided by the models is compared with the data obtained from measurements carried out and published by the authors previously. The reduction in effective conductivity of the layer due to microscopic phenomena in thin films is taken into account in the models. The measured conductivity is compared with values taken from the literature, and the differences are discussed.