AVS 46th International Symposium
    Surface Science Division Thursday Sessions
       Session SS1+EM+NS-ThA

Paper SS1+EM+NS-ThA10
Low Energy Electron Microscope Investigation of Pb Overlayers on Cu(100)

Thursday, October 28, 1999, 5:00 pm, Room 606

Session: Metal/Metal Growth
Presenter: G.L. Kellogg, Sandia National Laboratories
Correspondent: Click to Email

Pb overlayers on Cu substrates provide a model system for investigating epitaxial films exhibiting large lattice misfits and for studying two-dimensional phase transitions (e.g., disordering and surface melting). On Cu(100), room-temperature deposition of Pb follows classical Stranski-Krastanov growth with three well-defined overlayer structures forming at submonolayer coverages.@footnote 1@ In this investigation, low energy electron microscopy (LEEM) is used to (1) characterize the changes that occur to these structures resulting from annealing to various temperatures and (2) monitor the subsequent growth of 3-D islands. The low-coverage c(4x4) and high-coverage c(5@sr@2x@sr@2)R45 phases, both of which consist of rotationally inequivalent domains, are observed to disorder at temperatures of 270C and 215C, respectively. By forming images using selected low energy electron diffraction beams (i.e., dark-field LEEM), the domain structure that forms upon cooling from above the transition temperature is imaged directly with a spatial resolution of ~10 nm. Dark-field LEEM is also used to characterize the c(4x4) - c(2x2) co-existence structure that forms upon desorption of excess Pb from the high-coverage phase. The growth of three-dimensional Pb islands on top of the high-coverage phase and the coarsening of these structures at temperatures from 100-150C are measured to derive fundamental energetic parameters involved in the melting of 3-D Pb clusters. Sandia is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin Company, for the U. S. DOE under Contract DE-AC04-94AL85000 @FootnoteText@ @footnote 1@ J. Henrion and G. E. Rhead, Surface Sci. 29(1972)20.