Specific features of thermal dissolution of silver and gold thin films in silicate glass

It has been shown experimentally that the thermal dissolution of silver and gold thin films in silicate glass is accompanied by the formation of a monolayer of silver and gold micro- and nanocrystals, respectively, on the surface of the glass. These processes occur at temperatures well below the melting temperature of the metal. Microcrystals are formed predominantly at the edges of islands of the metal film, where there is a sufficient amount of the material for their growth. Silver and gold nanocrystals are formed in the case when atoms of the metal dissolved in the glass repeatedly emerge on the glass surface. Silver and gold dissolved in the glass exist not only in the form of atoms and ions but also in the form of charged and neutral molecular clusters.