PROBLEMS AND PROGRESS IN DESCRIBING QUANTITATIVELY THE DEVELOPMENT OF THIN-FILM DEPOSITS

A brief resumé is first given of presently available techniques for surface studies. The particular suitability of transmission electron microscopy and diffraction for the study of nucleation and growth of metal films on alkali halide substrates is noted and the remainder of the discussion relates to this deposit-substrate system. Early progress in developing and testing a quantitative theory of nucleation and growth is then reviewed. Many of the present problems relate to the influence of substrate surface defects and cluster mobility. The latter, which also controls coalescence and epitaxy in many cases, is strongly influenced by interparticle forces. The present state of our understanding of these topics is then discussed and it is pointed out that the most urgent need at present is for quantitative experimental observations of these phenomena. The observations should be of two types: one designed to improve our understanding of specific phenomena and the other allowing the effect of such phenomena on the dynamic development of deposits to be studied in the simplest circumstances possible. © 1979.