Fractal Growth of Clusters and Pores During Annealing of Aluminum Thin Films Deposited on Silica.

Annealing of an Al thin-film on SiO2 at temperatures in the range 400-660°C leads to a chemical reaction (oxidation of Al and reduction of Si) whih proceeds via irreversible growth of 2-D aggregates which belong to a class of clusters first described in MBE.