Low-energy electron diffraction (LEED) and Auger electron spectroscopy
(AES) were used to study the initial growth of a cobalt ultrathin fil
m on a Pt(111) surface. The growth of the cobalt ultrathin film on Pt(
111) belongs to Stranski-Krastanov mode. The kinetics of the inter-dif
fusion of Co adatoms on a Pt(111) surface was studied by AES at variou
s temperatures with the Co coverage of one monolayer. The activation e
nergy and the pre-exponential diffusion coefficient are obtained to be
0.90 eV and 6.6 x 10(-11) cm(2)/s respectively from an Arrhenius plot
. Ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS) was used to monitor the
alloy formation of Co/Pt(111) in the annealing process.