Structural relaxations in epitaxial films of fcc Fe and fcc Co on Cu (001)—a comparative LEED study

Abstract

We present the results of full LEED l/V structural studies of the layer-dependent relaxations of thin films of both iron and cobalt grown epitaxially on copper (001). One monolayer (1 ML) and 8 ML films of cobalt and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 ML iron films were grown and analysed. In the case of cobalt the film surface behaves in a very similar way to that of the corresponding bulk fcc cobalt (001) surface. Iron films in contrast, show a strongly varying relaxation with film thickness. A comparison of these structural variations and the thickness dependent magnetic properties of the films observed in previous work is made.