Scanning Tunneling Microscopy Study of the Thick Film Limit of Kinetic Roughening

The spatial and temporal scaling behaviors of vapor-deposited silver films have been investigated by means of scanning tunneling microscopy for the film thickness range ≈10–1000 nm. The roughness, growth, and dynamic scaling exponents have been independently measured (α = 0.82 ± 0.05, β = 0.29 ± 0.06, and z = 2.5 ± 0.5), and they exhibit no evolution with film thickness.