Growth of ultrathin nanostructured Ag films on Si(111) 7×7: a SPA-LEED study

Ultrathin Ag films grown on Si(111) 7×7 at different temperatures have been studied by spot profile analysis of low energy electron diffraction (SPA-LEED). For a deposition temperature of 100 K the films consist of touching (111) oriented grains and are complete at a coverage of about 1 Ag monolayer. For deposition at room temperature, in contrast, the grains form separated islands. The grains show a rotational disorder of 6° and are atomically flat, as the rms height variations are only 10% of the atomic Ag interlayer spacing.