Formation of chromium layers under Volmer–Weber conditions at critically small supersaturations

• A new method of Cr low-dimensional porous systems formation has been developed.
• Cr porous structures formation mechanisms have been investigated.
• New peculiarities of growth mechanism near equilibrium conditions have been found.
• Effect of negative bias application on the Cr nanostructures formation has been studied.

The formation mechanism of chromium layers obtained with a help of unbalanced magnetron sputterer operating under extremely weak vapor fluxes and high growth surface temperatures has been studied. The results of TEM and SEM investigations have shown that the mechanism of chromium nucleation and growth under near-equilibrium Volmer–Weber conditions differs greatly from the conventional notions about condensates formation at high supersaturations. In this case, the working gas pressure and the negative bias application to the substrate influence the structure formation mechanisms significantly. The low dimensional chromium systems have been obtained in the different forms, such as network structures, agglomerations of weakly-bound crystals, columnar structures consisting of prolonged crystals with approximately identical habitus. It is supposed, that oxygen which accumulates near the growth surface at a low deposition rates additionally affects the structure formation mechanism.

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