Valve Metal, Si and Ceramic Oxides as Dielectric Films for Passive and Active Electronic Devices

The growth of an oxide film on a metal surface involves the transport of matter and/or charge in at least three phases, the metal, the oxide film, and the oxidizing medium Many metals form more than one stable oxide, and some oxides exist in both amorphous and crystalline forms The oxides may possess pores or fissures complicating the transport processes, while grain boundaries and dislocations can provide short-circuit transport paths To this potpourri must be added surface and space charges and the ever-elusive properties of at least two interfaces and their attendant processes The result is an overwhelming range of possible—and no doubt actual—kinetic behavior

The Kinetics of the Growth of Oxides

A microprocessor-linked programmable calculator instrument is described. Current-voltage readings taken at predetermined intervals of time can be read, stored and passed to the calculator where they may be processed to yield Tafel slope data, ohmic drops, areas under curves (for cyclic voltammetry) or used in open-circuit decay calculations. The results may also be fed to a paper-tape punch for storage or graphplotting using a larger computer.

J. L. Ord

Papers

The Open‐Circuit Transient Method of Analyzing Overpotential in Anodic Oxidation