NUCLEATION OF SILVER ON SODIUM CHLORIDE

The nucleation rate of silver deposited from the vapor phase onto a sodium chloride substrate has been studied as a function of substrate temperature and incidence rate. The experiments have been performed in an ultra‐high‐vacuum system on a substrate cleaved in situ. The results are found to be in agreement with a model of the nucleation process suggested in previous publications. Using the theory, a value of 0.4 eV has been obtained for the adsorption energy of silver on sodium chloride. It is also estimated that the activation energy for surface diffusion is less than 0.2 eV, and that the dissociation energy of the critical nucleus at the lower supersaturations employed is 2.1 eV.