Growth of atomically flat Ag on mica

We investigated, by Scanning Tunneling Microscopy, the influence of the deposition rate on the morphology of Ag films grown on mica heated around 475 K. An explanation of growth morphologies based on mean-field nucleation theory and on the theory of Tersoff, Denier and Tromp is proposed. Two-dimensional growth is obtained if the Ag flux is adjusted in a way that reduces the difference between the diffusion lengths of Ag on Ag and of Ag on mica: it helps to minimise the density of islands in order to avoid the piling-up that arises from a high step-edge diffusion barrier. This is achieved by keeping the substrate around 475 K during deposition.