Complete and Incomplete Wetting in Multilayer Adsorption: High-Energy Electron-Diffraction Studies of Xe, Ar,N2, and Ne Films on Graphite

Abstract

The stability of successive layer formation relative to bulk cluster growth of molecules adsorbed on graphite has been studied by reflection high-energy electron diffraction. It is found that at low temperature clustering occurs in ${\mathrm{N}}_2$ and Ne on top of two molecular layers, whereas multilayer formation continues to at least ten layers in Xe and Ar. These results contradict the predictions of recent atomistic theories of film stability.