Chemically induced enhancement of nucleation in noble metal deposition

Abstract

Organic disulfides, chemisorbed as monolayers on aluminum and silicon oxides, have been found to induce significant changes in the morphologies of thermally evaporated Au and Ag films for film thicknesses (mass average) up to 100–200 Å. Measurements of the electrical conductivities as a function of film thickness show a marked shift of the onset of conduction to lower thickness for films deposited on treated substrates compared to films on untreated substrates. Transmission electron microscopy shows that the conductivities correlate qualitatively with sample morphology. In particular, films on treated substrates show metal clusters of higher densities which connect at lower coverages than do films on untreated substrates.