Wüest M. 51 Wykes M. 82 Yamaguchi M. 17 Ybarra G. 129 Yubero F ...

JUNE 26 MONDAY MORNING
RIVA-TF-MoM-OR.6 A MINIMALIST SURFACE DECOMPOSITION METHOD AP-
PLIED TO STUDY THE SURFACE CONTROL OF THE Au POLYCRYSTALLINE CO-
LUMNAR FILM GROWTH. E. Rodríguez-Cañas *, and J. L. Sacedón. Instituto de Ciencia de
Materiales de Madrid (CSIC), 28049 Cantoblanco, Madrid, Spain. J. A. Aznárez. Instituto de Física
Aplicada (CSIC), Serrano 144, 28006 Madrid, Spain. A. I. Oliva. Cinvestav del IPN Unidad Mérida,
Dpto. de Física Aplicada, AP 73- Cordemex 97310 Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico
A method based in the minimalist decomposition of surface morphologies is proposed for the study
of surface protrusion terminated growth fronts. The method is applied to the STM morphology images
of Au films thermally evaporated on native SiOx/Si(100) for a wide range of Au thickness (60-
1800 nm). In this case the bulk film morphology corresponds to a columnar competitive growth, and
the growth front is composed of assembled paraboloidal meridian zones. The application of the
method allows the numerical synthesis of height distribution curves by the convolution of the statistical
parameters of the minimalist components. A complete set of statistical parameters, mean values
and fluctuations, and their scaling during the growth are obtained. The slope at the borders of
paraboloidal meridian zones are maintained near constant during the growth and appears as the controlling
growth parameter. In fact its high value and the slope distribution curves can be explained by
an out of equilibrium growth, controlled by steering and interface phenomena at border of the terraces
in addition of an effective Ehrlich-Schwoebel step-edge barrier. The scaling agrees with simulations
in which similar selected slopes are considered. One of the minimalist parameters is the fluctuation
of the columnar height at the film surface, allowing to establish its relation with the other surface
roughness parameters
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