Abstract

Condensation of metal vapors onto substrates does not produce microscopically uniform thin films. Rather, thin (less than 20 nm) films of many materials appear to grow from nucleation points, producing islands, so that electrical conductivity is disturbed. Anomalous optical behavior of such films results. Extensive investigations of gold and silver films have been performed⁽¹⁾ with the conclusion that simple application of the three-dimensional Maxwell Garnett⁽²⁾ theory is inadequate to describe the response of the films. A more sophisticated theory replaced the spherical particles of the Maxwell Garnett theory by spheroids, considerably improving agreement with experiment.

© 1988 Optical Society of America