Abstract
Precise electrical resistance and thickness measurements are used to study metallic adsorption on thin gold films under ultra-high vacuum conditions. The large variations of resistance observed for impurity coverage lower than a monolayer are interpreted by classical size effect. Adsorption of various “sp” and transition metals have been investigated. We report here some typical plots showing the resistance increase of gold films about 250 Å thick versus metallic impurity coverage. Different informations obtained from these curves are discussed. The adatom resistivity at very low coverage is determined experimentally; its variations versus valence impurity are similar to the bulk impurity resistivity; the role of the adsorption site is also examinated. In some cases the overlayer growth mechanism can be determined, specially when it is of the Frank-van der Merwe type; in this case, the influence of temperature on the structure of the first monolayer has been investigated. For coverage greater than a monolayer, some examples of intermetallic compound formation or intergranular migration revealed by electrical resistance measurements, X-rays and electron microscope observations are given.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
