Epitaxial growth and magnetic properties of Fe nanowedge islands on Mo(1Â 1Â 0)

Fe films with a nominal thickness ⩾2Å grown on Mo(1 1 0) at 500⩽T⩽750K self-assemble into nanowedge islands supported on a pseudomorphic Fe wetting layer. We discuss mechanisms that contribute to the island growth and distribution. Fe adatoms migrate towards the islands under the influence of the strain induced in the substrate around each island and subsequently enter the island through a vertical climb mechanism. We demonstrate that the magnetic properties of these nanostructures are governed by their shape and do not display the in-plane spin reorientation transition found in the morphologically similar Fe/W(1 1 0) system.