Roughening of Stepped Metal Surfaces

Abstract

A generic phase diagram is proposed for stepped ($11m$) surfaces of fcc metals, which describes the roughening transition and subsequent changes of the nature of the rough phase in terms of a sequence of universal values for the roughness parameter $x_1(T, m)$. From a detailed analysis of atom-beam diffraction profiles of Ni(115), for $100 \mathrm{K}<T<\mathrm{}900\mathrm{} \mathrm{K}$, it is concluded that Ni(115) is rough in this temperature interval. The roughening temperatures of Ni(113) and Ni(001) are predicted to be 200 ± 50 K and well above 420 K, respectively. Near 420 K, islands appear in the rough (115) surfaces in addition to the meandering steps.