Researchers from the Integrated Nanodevices and System group (Inano) of the ECE department have demonstrated an effective method for depositing the smoothest silver (Ag) films on Si substrates using a thin nucleating layer of evaporated germanium (Ge). The deposited Ag films shows the RMS surface roughness more than an order of magnitude smaller than that of Ag films deposited without the Ge nucleation layers. The demonstrated Ag thin films having smooth surface morphology and small sheet resistance are very promising for large-scale applications in molecular electronics interconnect, optical metamaterials, plasmonic superlens and nanophotonics for which large area smooth Ag films are required. The work has been reported in NanoLetters and done in collaboration with Univ. of California-Santa Cruz, NASA Ames Research Center & Quantum Science Research, Advanced Studies, Hewlett-Packard Laboratories and Univ. of Illinois-Urbana Champaign.