SKM 2021 – wissenschaftliches Programm

Bereiche | Tage | Auswahl | Suche | Aktualisierungen | Downloads | Hilfe

DS: Fachverband Dünne Schichten

DS 1: Thin Film Properties

DS 1.1: Vortrag

Montag, 27. September 2021, 10:00–10:15, H3

Ultra-thin lithium fluoride on Ag(100): growth and morphology — •Vladyslav Romankov and Jan Dreiser — Swiss Light Source, Paul Scherrer Institut, CH-5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland

Thin films of lithium fluoride (LiF) are of high interest for spintronic applications [1], and they can be potentially used as decoupling layers for single-molecule magnets [2] and other molecules. In the present work we show that two strikingly different morphologies of LiF/Ag(100) can be achieved by keeping the Ag substrate at two different temperatures during the deposition of LiF.

Polarized X-ray absorption spectroscopy, scanning tunneling microscopy and low energy electron diffraction reveal that LiF grows epitaxially, preferring a vertical growth over the layer-by-layer growth. At room temperature LiF forms anisotropic strained dendrites with branches parallel to the [011] and [011] directions of the substrate. Conversely, at a substrate temperature of 500 K LiF assembles into more relaxed square islands displaying a Moiré pattern. The strong qualitative difference between the two morphologies makes LiF/Ag(100) an interesting model system to study the dependence of the growth kinetics on the temperature.

References: [1] A. J. Drew et al., Nature Materials, 8, 109, (2009); [2] C. Wäckerlin et al., Advanced Materials, 28, 5142, (2016).