Surface Diffusion and Island Growth

摘要

Grazing-Incidence Small Angle X-ray Scattering (GISAXS) and X-Ray Photon Correlation Spectroscopy (XPCS) studies of island growth in two different systems are presented: 5 ML of iron on MgO(OOl) and 10 ML of iron on Au(001). Due to a missing conducting surface Fe/MgO thinner than approximately 20 ML could not be studied previously by common methods like STM. Fe/Au(001) is interesting as atoms of gold diffuse easily through iron layers and form precipitates. The coarsening dynamics of these precipitates is investigated by XPCS in GISAXS geometry. Their growth depends on the crystallographic directions of the substrate and correlates with the morphology measured by STM microscopy. Measurements were performed at the ESRF in Grenoble.