STEP HEIGHT OSCILLATIONS DURING LAYER-BY-LAYER GROWTH OF PB ON GE(001)

Citation
A. Crottini et al., STEP HEIGHT OSCILLATIONS DURING LAYER-BY-LAYER GROWTH OF PB ON GE(001), Physical review letters, 79(8), 1997, pp. 1527-1530
Citations number
22
Categorie Soggetti
Physics
Journal title
ISSN journal
00319007
Volume
79
Issue
8
Year of publication
1997
Pages
1527 - 1530
Database
ISI
SICI code
0031-9007(1997)79:8<1527:SHODLG>2.0.ZU;2-K
Abstract
Heteroepitaxial growth of Pb on the Ge(001) surface has been studied b y He atom scattering. For low substrate temperatures, Pb is found to g row layer by layer with (111) orientation. A detailed analysis of the specular peak profile as a function of the He wave vector reveals that the step height of the growing monatomic terraces oscillates with the him thickness. This variation, initially as large as +/-15% around th e value of the Pb(Ill) bulk interlayer spacing, gradually dampens out after the deposition of a dozen monolayers. This is direct evidence of quantum size effects affecting the interlayer distance of a growing m etal film.