Surface topography of ultrathin free-standing [100] gold films

Free-standing 40-Å-thick [100] Au films have been produced by vapor deposition which exhibited various types of surface topography when observed by transmission electron microscopy. Here, one surface can be attributed to surface terraces that are a replication of the underlying substrate. The other surface is a combination of a step-ledge growth mechanism and surface nucleation phenomena. It is the purpose here to report upon this expitaxial thin-film growth which has not been observed in thin vapor-deposited metal films.