Abstract
The morphology of growing Ag nanoparticles on MgO(001) surfaces was investigated in situ, from the very beginning of the deposit up to the later stages (several nanometers), by grazing incidence small angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS), at different substrate temperatures (T=300, 540 and 640K). At the end of the deposit, the two samples elaborated at 300 and 540K were also studied by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The GISAXS patterns give evidence of a process of nucleation, growth and finally coalescence of islands. From the GISAXS data, the evolution of the inter-island distance, the lateral size, the height of the islands as well as their size distribution are derived as a function of the Ag deposited thickness and of the temperature. A very good agreement is obtained between the dimensional parameters found by TEM and GISAXS. Above 640K, the islands adopt their equilibrium shape of truncated octahedron and the metal/oxide adhesion energy can be deduced.
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