Time-dependent parabolic problems on non-cylindrical domains with inhomogeneous boundary conditions

We study the relationship between the Dirichlet problem and the Cauchy problem with inhomogeneous boundary conditions for local operators. Our results are applied to non-autonomous parabolic problems on non-cylindrical domains. Received January 10, 2001; accepted April 5, 2001.     

Use of tin as a surfactant material for the growth of thin silver films on silicon oxide

In this letter, we report on the use of tin as an effective surfactant material for silver growing on silicon oxide. We observed that submonolayers of Sn pre-deposited on SiO₂ result in earlier film coalescence and formation of smoother Ag layers. We suggest that Sn atoms reduce the Ag-adatom mobility resulting in experimentally observed increased island density and decreased film roughness. Angle-resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy reveals that Sn remains under the Ag layer giving circumstantial evidence that at later stages of Ag film growth Sn does not influence the interlayer transport.