Fabrication of Atomically Flat Nickel Thin Film on Synthetic Mica

Synthetic mica was employed as a substrate for thin film growth and atomically flat Nickel thin film was heteroepitaxially formed. In addition to the small rms surface roughness achieved ( ＜ 1 nm), the surface morphology appears to be comparable to that of commercially available gold mica. Film growth was not complicated and consisted of nickel deposition and substrate annealing. The authors expect that as long as synthetic mica and standard film growth techniques are available, our results can be reproduced easily.