Silver compounds are of interest because of their antimicrobial and other biological activity. Electrochemical and chemical (e.g., dissolution) properties of silver films of various origins, e.g., sputtered Acticoat antimicrobial silver samples, electrodeposited Ag metal and electrooxidized silver samples in various media have been studied with electrochemical techniques, quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) gravimetry, X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy (AFM), and scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM). Examination of several sputtered antimicrobial silver samples with AFM reveals their nanometer grainy aggregate structures. The electrochemical results suggest that the sputtered antimicrobial films contain both Ag(0) and Ag(l) (in the form of Ag2O, AgOH, or a mixture of these). While the dissolution of metallic Ag or antimicrobial films that were completely reduced to the Ag(0) form is small in aqueous 1.0 M NaClO4 Solution, films containing Ag(l) are soluble. The initial dissolution rate of an antimicrobial film in 1.0 M NaClO4 under open-circuit conditions was estimated to be about 3.6 (mug/h)/cm(2) in an unstirred condition. The SECM/QCM results suggest that the dissolved silver species contains both Ag(I) and Ag(0), with diffusion coefficients in the range (3.5-4.0) x 10(-6) cm(2)/S. Small clusters containing Ag(0) and Ag(l) (as well as 0 and H) are proposed for these dissolved silver species.