Surface morphology and kinetic roughening of Ag on Ag(111) studied with scanning tunneling microscopy.

Abstract

The topography of Ag grown on Ag~111! measured with scanning tunneling microscopy reveals threedimensional, layered islands for film thicknesses below 500 A. For thicker Ag films, the layered structures can no longer be observed. The induced surface roughness increases with increasing film thickness and corresponds to the formation of self-similar surfaces with roughness exponents H close to 1 for thicknesses up to 5000 A. Our results are compared to the relevant theoretical models. @S1063-651X~96!11307-6#