Nucleation and growth of thin gold films on NaCl(100) cleavage planes under carefully controlled conditions

Abstract

In the past, in different research groups, the nucleation and growth of thin metal films on different substrates have been studied. The results can be discussed on the basis of the kinetic nucleation model. Velfe et al. and Robins demonstrated a reduction in the number density of crystallites if the bombardment of the substrate surface with charged particles during condensation is strictly avoided. In the present paper the trend and results of these investigations are confirmed. Additionally the behaviour of condensation coefficients, average diameters and cluster size distributions under these ultraclean conditions has been studied.