Peeling and Measurement of Surface Oxide Film of Liquid Metal Alloys

Liquid metals are used in a variety of fields. Although liquid metals are used in a variety of field, their oxide films are also attracted in device fabrication fields. In this study, we aim to study whether it is possible to selectively obtain oxide films of liquid metals. In our experiment, we stripped the oxide film from the liquid metal. The film thickness was measured using Atomic Force Microscopy. Furthermore, the analysis of the conduction mechanism confirmed that Ohmic conduction occurred in TiO<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">X</inf>. When the oxide film of Ga-In-Sn was stripped on the SiO<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf> substrate, the current flowed in both GaO<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">X</inf> and Si, and when the oxide film of Ga-In-Sn-Ti was stripped, the current flowed predominantly in TiO<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">X</inf>. In Ga-In-Sn, the oxide film was an insulator, but in Ga-In-Sn-Ti, a conductive oxide film was formed.