Structural characterisation and homoepitaxial growth on Cu(111)

A comprehensive study of the homoepitaxial MBE growth of Cu on Cu(111) is p resented. This system displays a wealth of features and a large accumulatio n of morphological and structural defects. It is demonstrated that all of t hem can be ascribed to two basic characteristics of fcc-(111) faces: the pr esence of two threefold adsorption sites at the surface, which allows the f ormation of stacking faults, and the existence of high Ehrlich-Schwoebel ba rriers at steps, hindering interlayer diffusion. This behaviour, therefore, must be common during growth on compact metallic faces, and could have imp ortant implications for the preparation of low-dimensional heterostructures . (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.