Quantum Stability of Metallic Thin Films and Nanostructures

When a metal system shrinks its dimension(s), the conduction electrons inside the metal feel the squeezing, and are forced into (discrete) quantum states. Such confined motion of the conduction electrons may influence the global or local stability of the low dimensional systems, and in the case of a thin film on a foreign substrate this "quantum energy" of electronic origin can easily overwhelm the strain effects in definging the film stability, thereby severely influencing the preferred growth mode (see, e.g., Suo and Zhang, Phys. Rev. B 58, 5116 (1998)).

A brief perspective of the recent progress along the line of quantum stability of metallic systems of reduced dimensionality, summarizing especially the research efforts on the experimental side, could be found at (Zhang, Surf. Sci. 571, 1(2004)).