Labyrinthine Island Growth during Pd/Ru(0001) Heteroepitaxy

Nicolas Rougemaille (1) , Farid El Gabaly (2, 3) , Roland Stumpf (4) , Andreas K. Schmid (2) , Konrad Thürmer (4) , Norman C. Bartelt (4) , Juan de La Figuera (3, 5)

1 NEEL - MNM - Micro et NanoMagnétisme
2 LBNL - Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory [Berkeley]
3 UAM - Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
4 Sandia National Laboratories [Livermore]
5 IQFR - Instituto de Química Física Rocasolano

Using low energy electron microscopy we observe that Pd deposited on Ru only attaches to small sections of the atomic step edges surrounding Pd islands. This causes a novel epitaxial growth mode in which islands advance in a snakelike motion, giving rise to labyrinthine patterns. Based on density functional theory together with scanning tunneling microscopy and low energy electron microscopy we propose that this growth mode is caused by a surface alloy forming around growing islands. This alloy gradually reduces step attachment rates, resulting in an instability that favors adatom attachment at fast advancing step sections.

Domaines: Science des matériaux [cond-mat.mtrl-sci]

Nicolas Rougemaille, Farid El Gabaly, Roland Stumpf, Andreas K. Schmid, Konrad Thürmer, et al.. Labyrinthine Island Growth during Pd/Ru(0001) Heteroepitaxy. Physical Review Letters, 2007, 99 (10), pp.106101. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.106101⟩. ⟨hal-00188130⟩