Materials Science of Thin Films, 2nd Edition

Chapter 7 Substrate Surfaces and Thin-Film Nucleation

7.1 INTRODUCTION

In keeping with the theme and subtitle, the preceding half of the book was broadly devoted to the deposition of thin films. This chapter is the first of three that directly deal with the multifaceted concerns of the second theme–film structure. These three chapters encompass the progression of events that starts with the condensation of isolated atomic clusters on a bare substrate, continues with film thickening due to additional deposition, and ends with fully developed epitaxial single-crystal, polycrystalline, or amorphous films and coatings. Included will be issues related to the physical and crystallographic nature of substrates, film–substrate interfacial interactions, ...