Evaporation of silver thin ®lms on mica

We have studied the effect of evaporation parameters on the growth of epitaxial silver ®lms on mica. Our object was to grow ®lms with large ¯at areas to be used as substrates in STM studies. We have found optimum parameters which result in extremely ¯at ®lms which in the scale of several micrometers consist only of terraces several hundred nanometers wide and separated by monatomic steps; and a few deep pinholes averaging an areal density of roughly one pinhole per every square micrometer of ®lm surface. Certain other parameter values produced exceedingly rough surfaces. # 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved