EFFECT OF PRESSURE DURING DEPOSITION ON THE GROWTH OF GOLD THIN-FILMSONTO POLYCRYSTALLINE GAMMA-AL2O3

This paper reports on the morphological characterization by transmissi on electron microscopy of the growth mechanism of thin gold films cond ensed onto polycrystalline gamma-Al2O3 substrates at two different pre ssures, 10(-6) and 10(-8) Torr, and for the same deposition rate R = 1 X 10(13) atoms cm-2 s-1 and temperature 641 K. Granulometric paramete rs from electron micrographs such as number density, edge-to-edge dist ance, particle mean size and substrate coverage as a function of the d eposit thickness were deduced from a statistical analysis. From the co mparison between the results obtained in the two cases, we obtain evid ence of the mobility or immobility of large particles on the substrate and the influence of the residual gas environment on the thin film gr owth.