GROWTH AND PROPERTIES OF ULTRATHIN SILVER LAYERS ON THE CU(111) FACE - THE INFLUENCE OF THE SUBSTRATE-TEMPERATURE

Kinetics of Auger peak heights for CU-M(2,3)VV (62 eV) and Ag-MNN (360 eV) transitions are presented for silver adsorption on the Cu(111) fa ce performed at temperatures of 330-795 K and for annealing of 6 ML an d 2.5 ML of silver at higher and higher temperatures. The shape of tho se kinetics is interpreted as a result of a competition between silver adsorption and dissolution of the deposited layer in the sample bulk according to the theoretical predictions concerning the silver surface segregation. The existence of 2 ML --> 1 ML and 1 ML --> 0 ML transit ions predicted theoretically is experimentally confirmed. inelastic me an free path for Cu-M(2,3)VV Auger electrons lambda = 0.48-0.50 nm is experimentally found. Arguments are found that the silver layer growth at 330 K is not the pure Frank-van der Merwe one.