Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

The morphology of Cu clusters on SrTiO{sub 3}(001) at initial stages of metal film growth

Conference ·
OSTI ID:94029
 [1]; ;  [2]
  1. Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (United States). Environmental Molecular Sciences Lab.
  2. Univ. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering

Copper overlayers deposited on nearly stoichiometric SrTiO{sub 3}(001) have been investigated with scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). Vapor deposition of Cu on a SrTiO{sub 3}(001) surface at ambient temperature leads to the formation of three dimensional islands (clusters). The distribution of Cu islands appears to be inhomogeneous with two characteristic morphologies. In regions with a low density of Cu island the Cu was always associated with step edges or defect sites. In regions with a high density of Cu islands the islands exhibit a random but nearly close packed morphology. The variation of Cu island density is indicative of diffusion of Cu clusters on the SrTiO{sub 3}(001) surface. Diffusion was further confirmed by annealing the Cu/SrTiO{sub 3} at elevated temperatures yielding agglomeration of Cu clusters.

OSTI ID:
94029
Report Number(s):
CONF-941144--; ISBN 1-55899-258-8
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English