Researches on the very early stages of metal film growth on single crystal surface using AES, LEED, and some other such methods are reviewed.
According to the cap shape model, the relation among the three magnitudes, i. e., the two intrinsic surface energies of substrate and deposit and the interfacial tension between them, are discussed. The interfacial tension is only qualitatively estimated from the difference between their lattice constants and the chemical or electrical relation between them. However, depending upon the experimental results referred to, it is believed that the growth mode of the film, i. e., the island mode, the layer-by-layer mode, or the Stranski-Krastanov mode, is governed principally by the relation among the three magnitudes.
Finally, some interesting film growths, in which the two-dimensional lattice structures change before the completion of the first monolayer, are referred to and discussed.
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