1964/07/01 by D. W. Pashley, M. J. Stowell, M. H. Jacobs +1 · 4 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Fluid Dynamics and Thin Films #Theoretical and Computational Physics #nanoparticles nucleation surface interactions
paper · doi:10.1080/14786436408224212
crossref issued 1964/07/01 · crossref published 1964/07/01 · crossref published-print 1964/07/01 · openalex publication_date 1964/07/01 · crossref published-online 2006/08/20 · crossref created 2007/07/08 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · crossref deposited 2025/11/25 · crossref indexed 2026/07/27 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Single crystal films of gold and silver have been prepared by evaporation onto molybdenum disulphide inside an electron microscope, in order to allow direct observation of the mode of growth. These experiments provide detailed information on the remarkable liquid-like behaviour of the coalescence of the initial metal nuclei, and the mode of formation of a continuous film. In addition, re-orientation and re-crystallization phenomena are observed, and these effects are shown to be predominant during the growth of a polycrystal-line deposit on an amorphous substrate. The various possible mechanisms for the liquid-like behaviour are considered, by making use of mathematical expressions initially derived to describe the sintering of spherical particles. A semi-quantitative explanation of the liquid-like behaviour is given in terms of the surface diffusion of the metal atoms over the metal islands, the driving force for the mass transfer being the associated reduction in surface energy.