When annealing a thin polycrystalline film, many processes are known to occur: surface diffusion, grain boundary migration, and grain boundary diffusion. The equilibrium structure of such a film depends on a myriad of individual aspects, of which surface free energies are equally important as triple junctions and their forces.
Using a special drift-compensated UHV-STM, we investigate grain growth and grain boundary migration on an atomic scale on a polycrystalline metal films. Atomic step resolution allows us to identify the individual grains and, thus, also the grain boundaries. The special, thermal-drift-compensated STM design makes it possible to follow the same sample area over large temperature intervals such that we directly can observe grain boundary migration and grain growth and identify the underlying atomic processes and “rules” that drive the polycrystalline film and its surface towards equilibrium.

Publications (click the link):
2) Comment on “Kinetics of voiding and agglomeration of copper nanolayers on silica”
1) Grains, Growth, and Grooving