THE ROLE OF CHLORINE ADSORPTION IN THE LOW-TEMPERATURE EPITAXIAL-GROWTH OF SILVER, GOLD AND COPPER ON WATER-TREATED NACL

Chlorine adsorbed on either air-cleaved or water-treated NaCl surfaces prior to metal deposition proved to be active as a surfactant promoti ng the epitaxial growth of silver, gold and copper at low temperatures (80-120-degrees-C), while no epitaxial orientation of aluminium layer s was found under these conditions. Treatment of surfaces of Kyropoulo s-grown NaCl with bidistilled water resulted in no significant improve ment in the orientation of vacuum-deposited silver, gold and copper, b ut after exposing the water-treated surfaces to chlorine gas prior to evacuation, epitaxial orientation of the vacuum-deposited metals was f ound. Changes in the nucleation density of the metals and in the cleav age step structure on NaCl due to different treatments were studied by surface decoration. A correlation between the presence of active chlo rine on the NaCl surface and the epitaxial temperature of deposits has been proposed.