GIANT SURFACE STRESS IN HETEROEPITAXIAL FILMS - INVALIDATION OF A CLASSICAL RULE IN EPITAXY

The first few monolayers of silver deposited on the Pt(111) surface be ar a giant compressive surface stress. The stress is more than an orde r of magnitude larger than the stress caused by the lattice mismatch a nd results presumably from the charge transfer from Ag to Pt. Upon ann ealing to 600 K, the stress relaxes by the formation of a mixed Ag-Pt interface. The result shows that the consideration of surface energies and lattice mismatch is not sufficient for the prediction of the grow th mode.