Thesis presented October 26, 2004

Abstract:
In situ grazing incidence small angle x-ray scattering technique has been applied to the study of nano-objects growth. A quantitative analysis of the data has been achieved in order to get the shape, the size, the orientation and the distance between nanostructures. We have applied this technique to characterize the growth of palladium aggregates on MgO(001). The comparison of our results with those deduced from transmission electronic microscopy validates our analysis. Specifically the interface energy of palladium aggregates on MgO(001) has been determined. Moreover, the self-organized growth of cobalt nanostructures on different substrates has been studied. First on a model system, the Au(111) surface, which demonstrates the sensitivity of this technique to the very beginning of the ordering. Then, on a kinked Au(677) surface and on a thin film of silver on MgO(001) patterned by a buried dislocation network. In each case, the morphology of the nanostructures and the long-range order have been characterized. The interferences between the waves scattered by the surface and those scattered by the nanostructures put in evidence the self-organization phenomenon and allow localizing the nucleation-growth site.

Keywords:
Self-organized growth, molecular beam epitaxy

On-line thesis. ​