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Applied Physics A Materials Science & Processing
ISSN: 0947-8396 (printed version)
ISSN: 1432-0630 (electronic version)
Abstract Volume 73 Issue 1 (2001) pp 39-43
DOI 10.1007/s003390100822
Preparation of smooth Fe (001) on MgO (001)
G. Fahsold (*), A. Priebe, A. Pucci
Kirchhoff-Institut für Physik, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, Albert-Ueberle-Str. 3-5, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
Received: 23 June 2000 / Accepted: 19 December 2000 / Published online: 21 March 2001
Abstract. The high mobility of metal adsorbates on perfect oxide surfaces favours an island-growth mode, which results in a granular morphology for metallic thin films. At low temperature, a fast substrate coverage is achieved due to the reduced mobility which, on the other hand, inhibits the development of an atomically smooth surface. In this study we used a controlled procedure to grow smooth epitaxial films of a few nanometres of Fe on MgO (001). The development of the dynamic conductivity as a measure of morphological roughness was observed during metal deposition by means of in-situ infrared spectroscopy. At various steps of thin-film preparation we used low-energy electron diffraction (LEED) for a characterisation of the crystalline surface quality. With ex situ atomic force microscopy (AFM) we investigated the surface topology of the prepared films with respect to smoothness. For example, for a controlled-growth 2-nm film, we observed a sharp LEED pattern and a metallic dynamic conductivity, and we did not find the distinct grooves which are characteristic of a granular structure.
PACS: 61.14Hg; 61.16Ch; 68.55Jk
(*) Corresponding author. (Fax: +49-6221/54-9262, E-mail: fahsold@urz.uni-heidelberg.de)
Article in PDF format (351 KB)
Online publication: June 19, 2001
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