Epitaxial growth of Fe on Au(111): a scanning tunneling microscopy investigation

The epitaxial growth of Fe on Au(111) has been studied with scanning tunneling microscopy. At low coverage the iron nucleates forming polygonal islands whose spacing is determined by the underlying Au(111) zigzag reconstruction geometry. The islands are one atomic layer high and grow laterally with increasing coverage. At three monolayers the coherent (fcc) layer growth is disrupted and a transition to the bee iron structure occurs. We relate our results to published magnetic measurements. © 1991.