Abstract
We have investigated the early stages of α-Fe 2O 3 (0001) film growth on α-Al 2O 3 (0001) using oxygen-plasma-enhanced molecular beam epitaxy along with reflection high-energy electron diffraction, non-contact atomic force microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and diffraction. A compressionally strained, fully stoichiometric α-Fe 2O 3 film three monolayers thick forms prior to the onset of three-dimensional island formation and lattice relaxation. The surface of this film appears to buckle along 〈112̄0〉, giving rise to a new set of inwardly contracted diffraction spots, which, if not resolved from the substrate spots, could be interpreted as a 12% in-plane lattice parameter expansion. Such an interpretation has led prior investigators to conclude that the interfacial layer consists of a disordered cation layer with an in-plane lattice parameter ∼6% larger than that of α-Fe 2O 3 [T. Fujii, D. Alders, F.C. Voogt, T. Hibma, B.T. Thole, G.A. Sawatzky, Surf. Sci. 366 (1996) 579]. Our interpretation of the diffraction data suggests that the interfacial layer is badly distorted but commensurate with the substrate.
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