Transmittance and resistivity of semicontinuous copper films prepared by pulsed-laser deposition

Thin copper films were grown on glass by pulsed-laser deposition. The simultaneous in situ monitoring of the electrical resistance and optical transmittance of the growing film yielded highly reproducible and consistent data about percolation onset and film conductivity, both being useful indicators of film quality. When prepared under favorable conditions, films as thin as 1.5 nm would percolate, and became fully continuous at 5 nm, with conductivity reaching 30% of that of bulk copper.