INSITU STRUCTURAL STUDY OF THIN-FILM GROWTH BY QUICK-SCANNING X-RAY-ABSORPTION SPECTROSCOPY

Results of in situ quick-scanning extended x-ray-absorption fine-structure measurements during vacuum sputter deposition of thin films are reported. Cu overlayers equivalent to 1-72 monolayers thickness were sputtered onto a substrate. Up to a few monolayers thickness, the Cu seems to form small clusters. At coverages above 38 monolayers, the nearest-neighbor environment remains unchanged, whereas the third- and fourth-nearest-neighbor peaks are still growing: significant structural disorder exists even in the 72-monolayer sample. The changes of the local environment with Cu thickness are also directly visible in the near-edge spectra.