Quantum stabilities and growth modes of thin metal films: Unsupported and NiAl-supported Ag(1 1 0) and Ag(1 0 0)

We present density functional theory (DFT) analyses of the stability of Ag thin films versus film thicknesses for various surface orientations. We include benchmark results for freestanding films, but consider in detail Ag(1 1 0) films supported on a NiAl(1 1 0) substrate, and Ag(1 0 0) films supported on a NiAl(1 0 0) substrate. The supported films exhibit an almost perfect lattice-match between film and substrate surface unit cells, so one can assess film stability in the absence of significant lateral mismatch strain. We also provide a characterization of film growth modes for these NiAl-supported Ag films based on DFT results for the relevant energetics.