Oscillatory interaction between O impurities and Al adatoms on Al(111) and its effect on nucleation and growth.
- Physikalisches Institut, Aachen, Germany
- ISG Forschungszentrum Julich, Julich, Germany
- Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
We present a combined experimental and theoretical study of submonolayer growth in the presence of predeposited immobile impurities. Scanning tunneling microscopy measurements of Al/Al(1 1 1) epitaxy in the presence of oxygen adsorbates show that immobile O impurities influence all aspects of the early stages of homoepitaxial growth on Al(1 1 1). Possible scenarios for modified growth are investigated using kinetic Monte Carlo simulations. Dependences of island density on temperature, impurity concentration and strength and type of adatom-impurity interaction are compared. The comparison shows that the morphology of the growing Al film cannot result from only one interaction type: attractive or repulsive. An oscillatory interaction, suggested by ab initio calculations, is proposed to explain the behavior of the system.
- Research Organization:
- Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), Albuquerque, NM, and Livermore, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-94AL85000
- OSTI ID:
- 1002036
- Report Number(s):
- SAND2003-2633J; SUSCAS; TRN: US201102%%568
- Journal Information:
- Proposed for publication in Physical Review B., Vol. 575, Issue 1-2; ISSN 0039-6028
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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