Multilayer film growth on silver using surface plasmon resonance: Closeout report for period April 1, 1981-September 30, 1986

This project measured the dynamic film growth properties of xenon multilayers adsorbed on vapor deposited silver between 67K and 85K. The measurements required a high quality spectrometer table, a bakeable high vacuum chamber, a cold tip closed cycle refrigerator and a residual gas analyzer in addition to the electronics, servo system, optics and computer data acquisition equipment. The experimental sensitivity was adequate to resolve film thickness changes as small as .05 layers and the corresponding surface roughness effects due to these changes. We found that below about 75K xenon on silver(111) grows as quenched films and unless the deposition rate is extremely slow, they do not anneal appreciably. At higher temperatures the xenon atoms migrate laterally to regions of higher adsorption potential forming xenon islands. An activation energy for this process was measured as 1770K and the island formation was determined to be proportional to the deposition rate. In addition to a thesis, three APS talks were given on this experiment and a PRL has been submitted. 4 refs., 3 figs