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Growth of thin Ti films on Al single‐crystal surfaces at room temperature
Author(s) -
Smith R. J.,
Kim Y. W.,
Shivaparan N. R.,
White G. A.,
Teter M. A.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
surface and interface analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.52
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1096-9918
pISSN - 0142-2421
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1096-9918(199904)27:4<185::aid-sia467>3.0.co;2-h
Subject(s) - overlayer , x ray photoelectron spectroscopy , materials science , low energy ion scattering , crystallography , thin film , low energy electron diffraction , analytical chemistry (journal) , electron diffraction , chemistry , diffraction , nanotechnology , optics , nuclear magnetic resonance , physics , chromatography
Abstract The growth of thin Ti films on Al(001), Al(110)and Al(111) surfaces at room temperature has been studiedusing high‐energy Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy(RBS) and channeling, x‐ray photoelectronspectroscopy (XPS) and low‐energy electrondiffraction (LEED). Our results show that Ti atoms form athin, metastable, fcc overlayer on Al(110) andAl(001) surfaces. The primary evidence for this conclusionis the reduced backscattering that occurs as the Ti atoms shadow theAl atoms in the fcc structure of the Al substrate. For theAl(111) surface the Al surface peak area in ion channeling,measured as a function of Ti coverage, shows a small decrease for thefirst monolayer (ML) of Ti coverage but then increasesgradually with coverage, a characteristic of alloy formation.However, XPS and low‐energy ion scattering (LEIS)results are generally consistent with overlayer growth of Ti on theAl(111) surface, and the LEED pattern indicates an orderedoverlayer for Ti coverages from 2 to 12 ML, at which point the Alsurface was completely covered by Ti. The results suggest the growthof incommensurate, ordered islands of hcp Ti on Al(111) ina Stranski–Krastanov growth mode, in remarkable contrast to thepseudomorphic fcc Ti overlayer growth observed for Ti films onAl(001) and Al(110). Copyright © 1999 JohnWiley & Sons, Ltd.