Pristine Mica: cleaving under organic solvents and variable temperature Au sputter deposition

Mica is a versatile material that can be cleaved to form pristine layers allowing it to be an excellent substrate for mico/nanotechnological processes. Such as a smoother starting substrate for a film provides a more consistent film. Blade cleaving under the ambient conditions exposes the process to unique set of conditions. To vary such conditions mica was Blade cleaved submerged under different organic solvents. The varying surfaces resulted will be discussed in terms of the surface roughness and consistency. Surfaces were imaged via Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) using intermittent contact mode. Surfaces with varying roughness and consistency obtained and where analyzed and compared. Subsequently Au was deposited via magnetron sputtering. Sputter deposition was carried out at different substrate temperatures to facilitate/inhibit surface diffusion and agglomeration kinetics of the nanoclusters on the surface. The resulting varying surfaces were imaged via intermittent contact AFM. The results will be discussed with respect to the varying deposition temperatures. Many surfaces were shown to be of Stranski – Krastanov (SK) type growth.