Ceramic Al2O3 grains between 2-4µm in size can be seen. With AFM it's easy to study the form of the individual ceramic grains. On the left ceramic grains are clearly visible. On the right the grains of the ceramics can still be be made out through the gold film.
The topographical image was taken at the step between the ceramics and the gold film. (left square ceramics, right square gold). In the section (taken along the black arrow in the topographical image) no step is evident.
The distance between the lowest and the highest value is approx. 300nm. The surface roughness of the whole surface, inset left and inset right is revealed as 43nm, 36nm, 55nm, respectively. Thus we can see that the surface roughness of the gold film is 50% higher than the uncovered ceramics. The step height can not be measured because the ceramics is too rough.