Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
5423545 | Surface Science | 2011 | 5 Pages |
We investigated the epitaxial growth of thin KCl films on Ag(100) by spot-profile-analysis low energy electron diffraction (SPA-LEED) and scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM). The structural relation of the (100)-oriented KCl film with respect to the Ag(100) surface is incommensurate, nevertheless the structural quality is very high and terraces with an average diameter of 250Â Ã are obtained. The unit cells of KCl and Ag(100) are aligned, and there is no rotational mosaicity as present in the case of NaCl on Ag(100). We attribute this to a small interaction between KCl and Ag(100) and growth starting at step edges of the metal substrate. In order to demonstrate the high structural quality of the KCl films, we deposited a monolayer of perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic acid dianhydride (PTCDA) on these films. We obtained the identical monolayer structure that was observed earlier on bulk KCl. We thus suggest that KCl/Ag(100) is ideal for surface experiments on thin dielectric films.
Research highlights⺠Thin KCl films of high structural quality on Ag(100). ⺠Incommensurate growth with aligned unit cells. ⺠High mobility of KCl molecules leads to step nucleation growth. ⺠Electron based experiments are possible on these films. ⺠PTCDA monolayers form a brickwall structure on the films.