Surfactant action in heteroepitaxy: Growth of Co on(4×4)Pb/Cu(111)studied by LEED and STM

Abstract

The magnetic properties of ultrathin Co films and Co/Cu heterostructures grown on Cu(111) have been shown to improve when Pb is used as a surfactant: the thickness range of Co films displaying perpendicular magnetic anisotropy is extended and a complete antiferromagnetic coupling between them is made possible. In this paper, we aim to understand the origin of these magnetic properties by illuminating the crystallographic structure and morphology of the films. We apply low-energy electron diffraction (LEED) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) to ultrathin epitaxial Co films grown on the Cu(111) surface precovered by 1 monolayer (ML) of Pb in the $(4\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}4)$ superstructure. The Pb layer is found to segregate to the surface of the growing films and STM images show that the growth of Co proceeds in the layer-by-layer mode for coverages higher than 2 ML. For lower coverages, a coexistence of 1 ML and 2 ML high islands is observed on the terraces. A quantitative comparison of experimental LEED spectra shows that the structural transition from fcc to hcp stacking with increasing thickness of the Co films deposited on the Cu(111) substrate is not significantly affected by the surfactant. Instead, the latter induces the formation of sharp interfaces that favor the interface contribution to the magnetic anisotropy and allow the growth of rather smooth films with well-defined thicknesses.