We study the effect of substrate randomness on the dynamics of a prewetting transition. The prewetting system is mapped to a 2D-random-field Ising model (RFIM) in an external field H, in which the Ising spins ±1 are identified with a wet or nonwet patch of surface. The model is studied in a...

In a first-order wetting transition metastable surface states can be produced by overheating a nonwet wall or by undercooling a wetting layer covering the wall. These metastable states decay via the formation and subsequent growth of supercritical nuclei. The size and excess free energy of the...