RHEED STUDY OF PD PARTICLE GROWTH ON INSULATOR SUBSTRATES

Deposition of three dimensional particles on flat single crystalline surface results in appearance of transmission diffraction features. Analysis of diffraction patterns gives a possibility to characterize in situ the particle structure and orientation as well as to determine the variation of lattice parameter during particle growth. We have used the RHEED-system equipped with a data acquisition tool permitting both image processing and real time analysis. Different mode of epitaxy and lattice parameter variations were observed. The RHEED results were correlated with ex situ observations of particle size by means of Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM).