Deposition on uniformly flat surfaces

The nucleation rate kjv is the inverse of the average time between two pulses. By varying the overpotential r/, the dependence of the nucleation rate on r can be obtained. In Section 10.3 we showed that for three-dimensional nucleation the Gibbs energy of formation is proportional to r) 2. A similar analysis for the two-dimensional case gives a proportionality to if1 instead (see Problem 10.1). Hence a plot of In k/y versus ry 1 should result in a straight line, which is indeed observed (see Fig. 10.8). 

When a high (negative) overpotential is applied a second layer can begin to grow before the first one is completed. This leads to multilayer growth, which is only imperfectly understood, so we refrain from a further discussion. 

---