Initial epitaxial growth of Cu on Mo{011} by low-energy electron microscopy and photoemission electron microscopy

Abstract

Micrographs are published showing the effect of atomic steps, surface defects, and growth conditions on the submonolayer growth of Cu on Mo{011}. Double‐layer growth at various temperatures and multiple‐layer growth are examined. At 700 K Cu nucleates at atomic steps and grows two dimensionally and isotropically out onto the terraces. The first layer is pseudomorphic. A complex double layer grows followed by three‐dimensional islands. At temperatures below 500 K, islands nucleate on the terraces and further growth is monolayer by monolayer on every terrace. Films were grown without any tendency to form three‐dimensional islands. Such films show pronounced quantum‐size effects, which appear as large changes of the reflectivity of the electrons with energy and film thickness.