info:eu-repo/semantics/article
Non-alloy/alloy transitions in the Sn/Cu(001) system: An STM, LEED and DFT study
Fecha
2017-11-15Registro en:
Machain, Paloma; Gayone, Julio Esteban; Fuhr, Javier Daniel; Ascolani, Hugo del Lujan; Non-alloy/alloy transitions in the Sn/Cu(001) system: An STM, LEED and DFT study; Elsevier Science; Applied Surface Science; 422; 15-11-2017; 838-846
0169-4332
CONICET Digital
CONICET
Autor
Machain, Paloma
Gayone, Julio Esteban
Fuhr, Javier Daniel
Ascolani, Hugo del Lujan
Resumen
We show that surface alloying during growth of Sn on Cu(001) is inhibited at temperatures below 170 K. We have studied the non-alloying surface structures that are formed starting from low Sn coverage up to 0.65 ML, finding two novel non-alloying surface reconstructions. They were investigated by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and low energy electron diffraction (LEED) experiments, and by density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Increasing the temperature, we found that the exchange process is activated at 200–240 K causing the transformation of the initial non-alloyed surface into the corresponding alloyed one. The five known reconstructions of the Sn/Cu(100) surface alloy in the studied Sn coverage range are recovered when starting from the low temperature non-alloying phases. We analyze the atomistic processes involved in the non-alloy/alloy transitions, using first-principles calculations of the energy landscape of the Sn/Cu(001) system.