Deposition-rate dependence of granular size distribution in Cu aggregate on liquid substrate studied by atomic force microscopy

Abstract

In this article, we report an atomic force microscopy study on the microstructure and the deposition-rate dependence of granular size distribution in copper (Cu) ramified aggregates on a liquid substrate. This study shows that the ramified Cu aggregates are composed of Gaussian size distribution granules, which form immediately after the Cu atoms are deposited. The interesting phenomenon is that the mean diameter Φm of the granules exponentially decays and approaches a stable value Φc with an increase in the deposition rate f. The granular mean diameter Φm slightly changes with the time interval Δt during which the film is kept in the vacuum chamber, owing to the large diffusion coefficient of the Cu granules on the liquid substrates. The experimental behavior strongly depends on the properties of the liquid substrate.