Structure of a Zn monolayer on Ag(111) and Ag(110) substrates: an AES, LEED and STM study

Maradj Hicham (1) , Carole Fauquet (1) , Mostefa Ghamnia , Benedicte Ealet (1) , Nabil Rochdi (2) , Sébastien Vizzini (3) , Jean-Paul Biberian (1) , Bernard Aufray (1) , Haik Jamgotchian (1)

1 CINaM - Centre Interdisciplinaire de Nanoscience de Marseille
2 CRMCN - Centre de recherche de la matière condensée et des nanosciences
3 IM2NP - Institut des Matériaux, de Microélectronique et des Nanosciences de Provence

Auger Electron Spectroscopy, Low Energy Electron Diffraction and Scanning Tunneling Microscopy have been used to study the atomic structure of a Zn monolayer deposited on Ag(111) and Ag(110) substrates at room temperature. On both faces, there is formation of a close packed monolayer of Zn covering the entire substrate surface and giving rise to specific Moiré patterns. From a comprehensive LEED and STM data analysis, we deduce that the Zn monolayer adopts a (111) structure equivalent to a pure Zn layer rotated with respect to the silver substrate, of about 1.5° on the Ag(111) face and of about 4.5° on the Ag(110) face giving rise respectively to (156x156)R18° and c(12x6) superstructures.

Mots clés: superstructure; Moiré pattern; Zn monolayer; Ag(111); Ag(110); STM

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

Maradj Hicham, Carole Fauquet, Mostefa Ghamnia, Benedicte Ealet, Nabil Rochdi, et al.. Structure of a Zn monolayer on Ag(111) and Ag(110) substrates: an AES, LEED and STM study. Surface Science : A Journal Devoted to the Physics and Chemistry of Interfaces, In press, ⟨10.1016/j.susc.2019.02.007⟩. ⟨hal-02050455⟩