PROPERTIES OF ULTRA-THIN SILVER FILMS ON A V(100) SURFACE IN A WIDE TEMPERATURE-RANGE

Growth modes and properties of ultra-thin films of silver on a V(100) surface were studied by means of AES, XPS, UPS, TDS and LEED technique s. The experiments were carried out in a temperature range 50-1100 K. Above room temperature the films grow following the Stranski-Krastanov mode with two layers of silver serving as a substrate for clusters. T he cluster formation rate strongly depends on adsorption (annealing) t emperature. Below room temperature the films grow in an ordered way th ough not clearly layer by layer. At 50 K the growth is statistical. Si lver and vanadium do not mix at their interface at any studied tempera ture. At small silver coverages (theta < 1 ML) desorption produces sin gle peak spectra at 1000 K. Higher coverages show two peak spectra, th e more dominant one being of zeroth order kinetics with onset at 950 K .