Long-Time Correlation in the Study of Sliding Electrical Contacts

In this study a life time experiment employing a gold-gold contact system is carefully investigated with respect to the long-time correlation of electrical noise and surface structure of the track. For the discussion of noise a transformed noise function is introduced which can further be interpreted by auto-correlation analysis. It is demonstrated that areas of increased noise can be directly related to a larger surface roughness of the track. Hence, the electrical noise can be used as a probe for the time development of the microscopic state of the contact.