Study of silver cluster formation from thin films on inert surface

We investigated the evolution of 6–130 nm silver thin films during vacuum annealing. The bimodal character of cluster size distribution was observed for 12–130 nm films. One average cluster size is 40–80 nm, other average size is 380–420 nm. At the same time it is shown that two simultaneous processes occur: coalescence and evaporation. The bimodality distribution character is associated with these two simultaneous processes. The initial 6 nm Ag film is found to be not continuous and to consist of aggregates of stuck clusters. The heating of this film up to 230 °C leads to the separation of clusters and unimodal character of cluster size distribution (average cluster size is up to 10 nm). The differences in behavior of 6–130 nm Ag thin films are discussed in terms of classical nucleation theory.