Scale-dependent roughening kinetics in vapor deposited gold

Abstract

The roughening kinetics of gold deposits grown from vapor was studied by scanning tunneling microscopy. The dynamic scaling yielded the following growth exponents α(I)=0.90±0.06 and β(I)=0.25±0.06 for L_s>d_s, and α(II)=0.37±0.05 and β(II)=0.45±0.06 for L_s>d_s, where L_s is the scan length and d_s is the average diameter of columns. The scaling properties of the domain-dependent-surface roughness exponents allowed us to give the rationale for experimental data on the fractal behavior of thin metal films.