Epitaxial Growth of Ru and Pt on Pt(111) and Ru(0001), Respectively: A Combined AES and RHEED Study

Abstract

The epitaxial growth of Pt and Ru deposits by spontaneous, as well as by dynamic, electrodeposition onto Ru(0001) and Pt(111), respectively, have been studied by reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED) and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES). For the Pt deposit on Ru(0001), at submonolayer range, it preferably grows compressed commensurate bilayer thick islands on Ru(0001). This is the first time that RHEED observation of the onset of Pt twinning occurs in ca. 2-3 layer thick islands on Ru at room temperature, at which the surface strain due to the 2.5% lattice mismatch of Pt and Ru remains intact. For multilayer thick islands (>6 ML) ordered reflection twins (diameter of 3 nm) develop and are embedded in a (111) matrix with an incoherent (11-2) twin plane normal to Ru(0001) and aligned with their [−110] direction parallel to the [11-20] Ru(0001) substrate direction. For the Ru deposit on Pt(111), at 0.2 ML a strained () monoatomic layer is formed due to the 2.5% lattice mismatch of Ru and Pt. Increasing the coverage up to 0.64, the second Ru layer is found to relieve the strain in the first layer, giving rise to dislocations and Ru relaxes to its bulk lattice constant. Multilayers of Ru (>1 ML) result in (0001) nanocluster formation aligned with its [11-20] direction parallel to the [−110] Pt(111) substrate direction.