Scanning Tunneling Microscopy Studies of Metal/Metal Epitaxial Growth.

Abstract

AbstractThe morphologies of submonolayer films of Ni, Fe, Au, and Ag deposited on Au(111) at room temperature are studied using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). The structures of steps and islands on length scales up to ˜3000Å are examined to determine processes of atomic motion and island nucleation. In all cases the deposited atoms move rapidly at room temperature and their aggregation is affected by the Au(111) “herringbone” reconstruction. Ni and Fe aggregate to form island arrays with regular spacing, which are nucleated at “elbow” sites of the herringbone pattern. Au forms fewer islands, showing these atoms are less likely to stick at these elbow sites. Ag forms a complex structure of monolayer-high fingers which reflect the interaction of diffusion-controlled aggregation with energetic differences defined by the reconstruction. These studies make it clear that the final structure of an ultrathin metal film can depend sensitively on fine details of atomic structure in the substrate.