Characterization of Epitaxial Fe on GaAs(110) By Scanning Tunneling Microscopy

R.A. Dragoset, P.N. First, J.A. Stroscio, D.T. Pierce, and R.J. Celotta

in Growth, Characterization and Properties of Ultrathin Magnetic Films and Multilayers, Materials Research Society Symposium Proceedings, Vol. 151, ed. by B.T. Jonker, J.P. Heremans, and E.L. Marinero (1989) p. 193

Abstract:

Iron on GaAs(110) comprises an interesting system not only due to small lattice mismatch, 1.4%, but also because of the magnetic properties of the overlayer. In the present work, scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) was used to investigate bcc Fe films in the 0.1 Å to 20 Å thinkness range, grown at 300 K and 450 K substrate temperatures. STM images show Volmer-Weber growth with the formation of 3-D Fe islands20-30 Å in diameter for 0.1-1 Å deposition at 300 K, increasing to 40-50 Å for thicker films. Iron island sizes at low coverage and thin film roughness at higher coverages both show significant dependence upon growth temperature.




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