The Influence of Bulk Defects in Alkali Halide Substrates on Nucleation, Growth and Structure of Gold Films

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Abstract
It has been found that bulk defects of F-centre type (colour centres) introduced into alkali halide crystals prior to cleavage and exposure considerably affect nucleation and growth of gold films. To obtain the best basis for comparison six substrate crystals (KBr, KCl and NaCl; uncoloured and coloured) were cleaved and exposed simultaneously in ultra high vacuum. The results thus obtained showed that films formed on coloured substrates had (a) higher particle density, (b) better epitaxy, (c) lower epitaxial temperature, (d) fewer multiple twins, and (e) became continuous at lower average thickness.