The Atomic Structure of a Metal-Supported Vitreous Thin Silica Film

摘要

Silica glass has been extensively studied. Yet, we know little about its atomic-scale structure. In 1932, Zachariasen postulated that vitreous silica consists of a continuous random network of corner-sharing SiO4 tetrahedra. He assumed that the nature of the bonding forces between the atoms of a glass is essentially the same as in a crystal. This assumption has never been verified microscopically with true atomic resolution. As it is difficult to apply scanning-probe techniques to a three dimensional (3D) amorphous material, a two dimensional (2D) equivalent system would have to be nrenared to make the observation possible.