Structure of antimony ultrafine particles and spontaneous crystallization process by the increment of film thickness

Structure changes due to the film thickness alteration have been elucidated for the vacuum evaporated Sb film on carbon substrate. High-resolution ele ctron microscopy (HREM) of 2-8 nm thick films showed that round particle wi th the size of less than 30 nm was made up of microcrystallites of the orde r of 2 nm in size. The orientation of the film changed successively from am orphous to [0001] and, finally, [21(3) over bar 1] accompanied by the cryst allization due to the film thickness variation. These processes have been d escribed as the release of strain energy in the film during the film growth .