Study of silver cluster formation from thin films on inert surface

We investigated the evolution of 6-130 nm silver thin films during vacuum annealing. The bimodal character of cluster size distribution was observed for 12-130 nm films. One average cluster size is 40-80 nm, other average size is 380-420 nm. At the same time it is shown that two simultaneous processes occur: coalescence and evaporation. The bimodality distribution character is associated with these two simultaneous processes. The initial 6 nm Ag film is found to be not continuous and to consist of aggregates of stuck clusters. The heating of this film up to 230 °C leads to the separation of clusters and unimodal character of cluster size distribution (average cluster size is up to 10 nm). The differences in behavior of 6-130 nm Ag thin films are discussed in terms of classical nucleation theory.