Strain relief at metal interfaces with square symmetry

Formation of {111} oriented domains during the sputtering epitaxy growth of (001) oriented Iridium films

In the wafer-scale growth of Ir(001) on yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) by magnetron sputtering epitaxy two kinds of {111} oriented domains are observed. One consists of sharp 'fjord'-shaped features in which four 90° alternated rotational variants of {111} are possible and the second one consists of islands with less defined shapes in which eight 45° alternated rotational variants can be found. Their formation occurs directly at the Ir/YSZ interface along incoherent grain boundaries, likely nucleating at local defects of the YSZ surface. In order to avoid these misoriented domains, process separation and proper etching pretreatment of the wafers both before and between the sputtering processes have been found to be the key strategy for achieving reproducibility and overall better material quality.

Kinetically driven island morphology in growth on strained Cu(100)

We study the effects of strain on the monomer and dimer diffusion mechanisms and island morphology during the growth of Cu on a biaxially strained Cu(100) substrate. We find an approximately linear dependence of the activation barriers on strain. In particular, while hopping is favored for compressive and/or small (<2%) tensile strain, for greater than 2% tensile strain, the exchange mechanism is favored. We then present the results of temperature-accelerated dynamics simulations of submonolayer growth at 200 K. For the case of 2% compressive strain we find that, as in previous kinetic Monte Carlo simulations of Cu/Ni(100) growth, the competition between island growth and multi-atom relaxation ("pop-out") events leads to an island morphology with a mixture of open and closed steps. At slightly higher coverage, island coalescence then leads to elongated islands. However, annealing leads to a significant decrease in the number of open steps. In contrast, for the case of 8% tensile strain, only one large strongly anisotropic island is formed. Surprisingly, we find that despite the large strain, the island anisotropy is not due to energetics but is instead due to anisotropic attachment barriers that favor the exchange-mediated attachment of monomers to corners over close-packed step-edges. An explanation for the asymmetry in attachment barriers is provided. Our results provide a new general kinetic mechanism for the formation of anisotropic islands in the presence of isotropic diffusion and tensile strain.

Cooperative particle rearrangements facilitate the self-organized growth of colloidal crystal arrays on strain-relief patterns

Strain-relief pattern formation in heteroepitaxy is well understood for particles with long-range attraction and is a routinely exploited organizational principle for atoms and molecules. However, for particles with short-range attraction such as colloids and nanoparticles, which form brittle assemblies, the mechanism(s) of strain-relief is not known. Here, we found that for colloids with short-range attraction, monolayer films on substrates with square symmetry could accommodate large compressive misfit strains through locally dewetted hexagonally ordered stripes. Unexpectedly, over a window of compressive strains, cooperative particle rearrangements first resulted in a periodic strain-relief pattern, which then guided the growth of laterally ordered defect-free colloidal crystals. Particle-resolved imaging of monomer dynamics on strained substrates also helped uncover cooperative kinetic pathways for surface transport. These processes, which substantially influenced the film morphology, have remained unobserved in atomic heteroepitaxy studies hitherto. Leaning on our findings, we developed a heteroepitaxy approach for fabricating hierarchically ordered surface structures.

The impact of structural relaxation on spin polarization and magnetization reversal of individual nano structures studied by spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy

The application of low temperature spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy in magnetic fields for the quantitative characterization of spin polarization, magnetization reversal and magnetic anisotropy of individual nano structures is reviewed. We find that structural relaxation, spin polarization and magnetic anisotropy vary on the nm scale near the border of a bilayer Co island on Cu(1 1 1). This relaxation is lifted by perimetric decoration with Fe. We discuss the role of spatial variations of the spin-dependent electronic properties within and at the edge of a single nano structure for its magnetic properties.

Atomistic studies of strain relaxation in heteroepitaxial systems

We present a review of recent theoretical studies of different atomistic mechanisms of strain relaxation in heteroepitaxial systems. We explore these systems in two and three dimensions using different semi-empirical interatomic potentials of Lennard-Jones and many-body embedded atom model type. In all cases we use a universal molecular static method for generating minimum energy paths for transitions from the coherent epitaxial (defect free) state to the state containing an isolated defect (localized or extended). This is followed by a systematic search for the minimum energy configuration as well as self-organization in the case of a periodic array of islands. In this way we are able to understand many general features of the atomic mechanisms and energetics of strain relaxation in these systems. Finally, for the special case of Pd/Cu(100) and Cu/Pd(100) heteroepitaxy we also use conventional molecular dynamics simulation techniques to compare the compressively and tensilely strained cases. The results for this case are in good agreement with the existing experimental data.

Strain relief in Cu-Pd heteroepitaxy

We present experimental and theoretical studies of Pd/Cu(100) and Cu/Pd(100) heterostructures in order to explore their structure and misfit strain relaxation. Ultrathin Pd and Cu films are grown by pulsed laser deposition at room temperature. For Pd/Cu, compressive strain is released by networks of misfit dislocations running in the [100] and [010] directions, which appear after a few monolayers (ML) already. In striking contrast, for Cu/Pd the tensile overlayer remains coherent up to about 9 ML, after which multilayer growth occurs. The strong asymmetry between tensile and compressive cases is in contradiction with continuum elasticity theory and is also evident in the structural parameters of the strained films. Molecular dynamics calculations based on classical many-body potentials confirm the pronounced tensile-compressive asymmetry and are in good agreement with the experimental data.

Overlayer strain relief on surfaces with square symmetry: phase diagram for a 2D Frenkel-Kontorova model

Overlayers on surfaces with square symmetry exhibit a huge variety of strain relief mechanisms. I present a simple 2D Frenkel-Kontorova model and calculate the associated zero temperature phase diagram which shows a transition from overlayers with square symmetry (and possible square dislocation patterns) to hexagonal symmetry. The phase diagram includes the experimentally observed clock-rotated phase. Local density approximation calculations suggested by the model show that a clean Ni(100) surface reconstructs from a bulk-terminated to a clock-rotated structure at biaxial compressive strains above 2.5%.