STM studies on the growth and structure of thin metallic films on metal substrates

Abstract

The structure and growth of thin, epitaxially grown metal films vapor-deposited on metallic substrates have been studied by a variety of integrating techniques over many years [1]. On the theoretical side detailed predictions exist on both the structure and growth of these films, which were derived from considera-tions of the lattice mismatch between the respective materials and from their thermodynamical properties [2,3]. The verifica-tion of these predictions, however, requires an exact knowledge of the local structure and the topography of these films which was accessible only indirectly from these data. Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) studies can provide direct information on these properties due to the local nature of the measurement which will be demonstrated in different examples.