Initial Growth of Co on Cu{001} Studied with LEED I(V)

Abstract

The initial growth of Co deposited at room temperature on Cu{001} was studied with low energy electron diffraction (LEED) and temperature-programmed desorption (TPD). Measured I(V) spectra were compared with calculated spectra from several model structures, including substitutionally disordered alloys. The averaged T-matrix approximation (ATA) was used to model the random alloy layers. According to the I(V) analysis, alloying occurs in the first stages of the growth. TPD of CO indicates that both large areas of Co and areas of a surface alloy are already present at the lowest coverage. Both methods show that a transition to layer-by-layer growth occurs as the coverage increases.