Volmer-Weber mode island growth

VW mode Volmer-Weber mode, namely, 3D island growth FM mode Frank-van der Merwe mode, namely, layer-by-layer 2D mode SK mode Stranski-Krastanov mode, unstrained 3D islands are formed on top of strained 2D layers. See text for details. 

Figure 3. Crystal growth modes (a) three-dimensional island (Volmer-Weber) growth, (b) layer-plus-island (Stranski-Kastanov) growth, and (c) layer-by-layer (Franck-van der Merwe) growth.

This system was chosen as a typical example of a weak Me-S interaction. Potentiostatic UPD-OPD transition experiments in the system HOPG(0001)/Ag, CIO4 showed that the 3D Ag phase formation follows a Volmer-Weber island growth mode [4.43, 4.60-4.63]. Decoration of steps and other surface imperfections by a 3D Ag phase was observed at relatively low r f, whereas 3D Me crystallites are also formed on atomically flat terraces at relatively high 7f. The initial deposition kinetics... 

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. 

The Volmer-Weber 3-D island nucleation and growth mode has been observed in a number of experiments of diamond... 

Consequently, an activation barrier exists for Cy < 1 or 7s < 7f + 7fs- This implies that clusters nucleate with a nonzero contact angle 0. Consequently, the film nuclei form on the substrate as islands and the ensuing film growth mode is the Volmer-Weber island growth mode, as was noted in Section 1.3. This mode is preferred when the atoms or molecules deposited onto the substrate are more strongly bound to one another than to the underlying substrate, as in the case of many metals on insulator substrates. 

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. 

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