Modes of film growth by vapor deposition

The problem of adhesion between a polymer and a metal is strongly dependent on the specific type of polymer and metal involved, as well as on the deposition process under which the interface between the two is formed. In order to improve adhesion, different pretreatment methods can be used, but the development of such techniques requires detailed information about metal-polymer interfaces. Particularly, in the case of thin metal films deposited by physical vapor deposition (PVD) in ultra high vaccum (UHV), X-ray and ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS and UPS) have been used to obtain chemical information about initial film growth modes,... 

It is of some interest to consider the situation where one of the ideahzed 2D systems that have been addressed can be followed in a layer-by-layer growth mode from a strictly 2D plane to one that is more 3D like. Such is the situation in the formation of multilayer molecular films adsorbed to uniform substrates or where epitaxial metal or soft matter growth is realized in chemical vapor deposition, molecular beam epitaxy or polymeric deposition systems. The hneshape discussion above has to be modified to account for the development of the third dimension of order in the system. Conceptually this is rather straightforward. Instead of considering, as Warren did, an ideal 2D reciprocal lattice composed of an ordered array of uniform rods, the reciprocal lattice for an idealized multilayer (e.g., two to five individual layers) system is characterized by... 

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