The anomalous behaviour of Ag-Al sub 2 O sub 3 Cermet electroformed devices

Cermet coating consisting of silver particles in an aluminium oxide matrix were prepared on glass substrates by vacuum deposition. Variation of the circulating current with potential difference was obtained in evaporated Al/Ag-Al sub 2 O sub 3 /Cu sandwich structures, 100 to 200 nm thick containing 10 wt % Ag. It was observed that the investigated sandwich structures exhibit anomalous behaviour such as electroforming with Voltage-Controlled-Negative Resistance (VCNR) in vacuo of approx 4 x 10 sup - sup 6 torr. The formed characteristics were explained on the basis of filamentary model.