The growth of Ag thin films deposited at 300 K on amorphized Si surfaces under ultra high vacuum conditions is investigated by in situ scanning tunneling microscopy. The analysis of the film morphology as a function of film thickness together with additional annealing experiments allow to obtain a quite complete picture of the film formation processes. It is shown that the large kinetic stability of the trenches separating Ag islands strongly influences all the structural features during the initial growth stages, i. e., island density, grain size, roughness and texture evolution. Specifically it becomes understandable, why abnormal grain growth is initiated only when continuous films develop facets. Finally it is shown, how texture evolution and grain structure can be manipulated in ion assisted growth by using a grazing incidence ion beam.
The contributions to this work by Celia Polop, Christian Rosiepen, Daniel Förster and Sebastian Bleikamp are acknowledged.
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