Growth and Atomic‐Scale Characterization of Ultrathin Silica and Germania Films: The Crucial Role of the Metal Support
Adrián Leandro Lewandowski, Sergio Tosoni, Leonard Gura, Zechao Yang, Alexander Fuhrich, Maurício J. Prieto, Thomas Schmidt, Denis Usvyat, Wolf‐Dieter Schneider, Markus Heyde, Gianfranco Pacchioni, Hans‐Joachim Freund
Abstract
Abstract The present review reports on the preparation and atomic‐scale characterization of the thinnest possible films of the glass‐forming materials silica and germania. To this end state‐of‐the‐art surface science techniques, in particular scanning probe microscopy, and density functional theory calculations have been employed. The investigated films range from monolayer to bilayer coverage where both, the crystalline and the amorphous films, contain characteristic XO 4 (X=Si,Ge) building blocks. A side‐by‐side comparison of silica and germania monolayer, zigzag phase and bilayer films supported on Mo(112), Ru(0001), Pt(111), and Au(111) leads to a more general comprehension of the network structure of glass former materials. This allows us to understand the crucial role of the metal support for the pathway from crystalline to amorphous ultrathin film growth.