KINETICS OF NONISOTHERMAL NUCLEATION OF THIN-FILMS

Nucleation and growth processes of thin films are studied with respect to release of phase transition latent heat and heat removal into a substrate or vapor. The rate of nucleation as a function of the substrate thermal conductivity, the size distribution of near-critical islands, a reference island temperature deviation and the non-isothermal energy of island formation are calculated within the context of a capillary model. The growth retardation process of new phase islands due to their warming up in relation to a two-dimensional vapor of adatoms is also investigated.