Abstract :
Metal films were successfully coated on cenosphere particles using a magnetron sputtering deposition system in which a newly designed sample
stage equipped with an ultrasonic vibration generator was used for the tumbling of cenosphere particles. It was found by FE-SEM and AFM results
that the films were well compacted and highly uniform in thickness. Due to the difference in sputtering rate, the film thicknesses estimated from FESEM
characterizations in backscattered mode were <10, 39, 50 and 134 nm for Co, Ni, Cu and Ag films, respectively, under the same sputtering
deposition conditions. The RMS values derived from the AFM measurements were 1.94, 4.31, 10.92 and 18.33 nm for Co, Ni, Cu and Ag films,
respectively, which can ascribe to the different crystallization behaviors for the four metals. The experiment results indicate that the coating method
can be applicable for the fabrication of many other films on cenosphere particles which can be sputter deposited.
