Epitaxial growth of Fe nanodots on SrF2/Si (111)

Fe nanodots were grown on SrF2 (111) surfaces deposited on Si (111) substrates in a molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) system. The crystallographic and surface morphological characters were studied by reflection high-energy electron diffractometry (RHEED) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The triangular terraces and step edges of SrF2 were formed at 600 °C, and its crystallinity was high in quality. Fe (111) layers with thicknesses between 0.5 and 5 nm were grown epitaxially on this SrF2 layer at room temperature (RT) with the help of electron beam exposure. In 1-nm thick Fe layers deposited at RT, the number density was about 2 × 1012 cm− 2. At the end of this report, an epitaxial growth of the SrF2/Fe/SrF2 tri-layer on Si (111) is briefly described.