Introducing metallic nanoparticles, resembling Au, on the substrate as a surfactant or wetting inducer has been demonstrated as a easy however efficient strategy to facilitate the formation of ultra-thin silver layers (UTSLs) throughout the next Ag deposition. Nonetheless, most analysis paid a lot consideration to the purposes of UTSLs assisted by metallic surfactants however uncared for the underlying mechanisms of how the metallic surfactant impacts the formation of UTSL. Right here, we apply in situ grazing-incidence wide-/small-angle X-ray scattering to disclose the consequences of the Au surfactant or seed layer (pre-deposited Au nanoparticles) on the formation of UTSL by high-power impulse magnetron sputter deposition (HiPIMS) on a zinc oxide (ZnO) skinny movie. In keeping with the excellent and in-depth evaluation of the in situ X-ray scattering information, we observe that the pre-deposited Au nanoparticles can act as further defects or development cores for the sputtered Ag atoms regardless of utilizing HiPIMS, which itself already types many nucleation websites. Because of this, the formation of a steady and clean UTSL is reached earlier in HiPIMS as in contrast with naked ZnO skinny movies. Primarily based on the mechanism revealed by the in situ measurements, we offer perception into the formation of UTSL and additional UTSL-based purposes.
