The epitaxy of gold on sodium chloride with a continuous carbon intermediate film

Abstract

There are conflicting reports in the literature as to whether epitaxial films can be grown over intermediate thin continuous carbon layers. A series of experiments was carried out on the NaClAu system in which the effect of intermediate carbon films on the epitaxy of the gold was studied. For a very limited thickness range of carbon intermediate layers, good epitaxial gold films were formed. The corresponding carbon films were stripped, and examination in the electron microscope showed that the films were continuous and free from holes greater than 10 Å in diameter. A model based on “pseudomorphic islands” in the carbon film is proposed to account for the observations.