GROWTH-KINETICS OF THE ANTIMONY LAYER DEPOSITED ON GLASS AND SIOX IN A VACUUM OF 10-4 PA

Temperature dependence of the growth rate of an antimony layer on glass under a constant incident rate of antimony vapour molecules is investigated for substrate temperatures T(s) between 77 and 333 K by examining the relationship between the final mean thickness of the antimony layer and the final frequency shift of a quartz oscillator through the deposition. Electron microscopy is used to investigate the kinetics of nucleation and growth of the antimony layer on SiOx for the same range of T(s). The dependence of the growth rate on T(s) indicates that an effective mean condensation coefficient of the antimony layer on to glass gradually decreases from a nearly saturated value at 77 K with increasing T(s) and then steeply decreases above 273 K. The critical thickness delta-c where the layer grows from a discrete island structure into an almost continuous structure is confirmed to follow an exp(-Q/kT(s)) dependence for T(s) above 273 K where Q is activation energy of growth through interisland coalescence. Then Q is determined to be 0.12 +/- 0.01 eV for antimony on SiOx. Finally the variation in island density with the deposition time for T(s) above 273 K is analysed on the basis of the simplified model for the kinetics of nucleation and initial growth.