EPITAXIAL-GROWTH OF PD FE/PD TRILAYERS ONTO SAPPHIRE/

Trilayers of Pd/Fe/Pd are prepared under various condensation conditio ns onto sapphire substrates. The growth of the layers is in situ chara cterized by reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) and sc anning tunneling microscope (STM) investigation. We find that Fe layer s with thicknesses of 10 nm epitaxially grow in the bcc phase onto (11 1) Pd layers at room temperature. The epitaxial relationship is Pd(111 )[110]parallel to Fe(110)[111], which corresponds to the Kurdjumov-Sac hs relationship for bcc/fcc interfaces. Although epitaxial growth occu rs, we find the interface roughness being large, which is considered a s originating from island growth. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science S.A.