Growth, morphology, and crystalline structure of ultrathin Fe films on Cu 3Au(100)

Abstract

The growth mode, morphology, and crystalline structure of Fe films on Cu 3Au(100) are studied for different growth temperatures (300 and 160 K), using in situ scanning tunneling microscopy and low energy electron diffraction. Multilayer growth is found to be predominant for both growth temperatures. Only in films of 3–4 monolayers (ML) grown at 300 K is a mixed mode of layer-by-layer growth and island growth observed. An fcc-to-bcc structural transformation, accompanied by a distinct change in the surface topography, starts at about 3.5 ML and 5.5 ML for the growth temperatures of 300 and 160 K, respectively. For both growth temperatures bcc-like Fe in Fe/Cu 3Au(100) assumes, most likely through a Bain path, a surface plane with the (100) rather than the (110) orientation found in the Fe/Cu(100) system. Both the surface morphology and the onset thickness of the fcc–bcc structural transformation are shown to be strongly affected by the growth temperature.