The dynamics of boiling succeeding spontaneous nucleation on a small film heater immersed in ethyl alcohol are investigated at heating rates ranging from 10(7) K/s to approximately 10(9) K/s, under which spontaneous nucleation is dominant for the inception of boiling. Immediately after the concurrent generation of a large number of fine bubbles, a vapor film that covers the entire surface is formed by coalescence and rapidly expands to a single bubble. As the heating rate is increased, the coalesced bubble flattens and only a thin vapor film grows before cavitation collapse. Similar behaviors are also observed for water. Based on the observed results, a theoretical model of the dynamic bubble growth due to the self-evaporation of the superheated liquid layer, which develops before boiling incipience, is presented. The calculated results are compared with the observed results. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.