Iron deposition on polycrystalline aluminium: composition and nanostructure of the interface

The formation of the interface during the deposition of iron on polycrystal line aluminium has been studied at room temperature using AES, factor analy sis, XPS and angle-resolved XPS. The information obtained by these techniqu es is consistent with a two-stage mechanism for iron growth: a first stage characterized by the formation of FeAl islands 10 ML thick up to a coverage of theta(FeAl) = 0.65, followed by the formation of metallic iron islands of constant thickness 8 ML that grow over the intermetallic islands formed previously. Also, the simultaneous lateral growth of both kinds of islands is observed during the second stage. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.