Frank-van-der-Merwe growth mode

Figure 6.13 Schematic representation of the growth modes in Me fHm formation on S in systems with strong Me-S interaction depending on die ciystaDographic Me-S misfit, /= (do,Me - do,s)/do S- (a) Frank-van der Merwe growth mode (f 0) (b) Stranski-Krastanov growth mode (f 0).

Frank-van der Merwe growth mode (film formation) Layer-by-layer growth where there is strong interaction between the depositing atoms and the substrate. Complete coverage of the substrate is attained with a few monolayer film thickness. See also Volmer-Weber (island) growth Stranski-Krastanov (pseudomorphic) growth. 

For multilayer coverage one can distinguish three growth modes island (Vol-mer-Weber), layer-plus-islands (Stranski-Krastanov), and layer-by-layer (Frank-van-der-Merwe) growth. Thermodynamic reasoning can be used to relate the surface energies r im, and to these different growth... 

Cu deposited onto Ru(0001) at 100K grows in 2-d islands via a Frank-van der Merwe (layer by layer growth) mechanism up to 2 ML. The island sizes but not the basic growth mode are altered by a post-deposition anneal at 900 K. 

This is an intermediate combination of the two growth modes mentioned above. The substrate is first covered with one or a few monolayers grown in Frank-van der Merwe mode, then some three-dimensional islands are formed on the surface in the Volmer-Weber growth mode. This mode is a transition from two-dimensional growth to three-dimensional growth and has been observed in metal-metal and metal-semiconductor systems. 

Three different growth modes (Volmer-Weber, Frank-van der Merwe, and Stranski-Krastanov) can be distinguished, depending on the vertical binding energy between a metal adatom, Meads> on foreign substrate, S, and on the crystallographic Me-S misfit, as schematically illustrated in Fig. 3. 

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