Comparative study of the structural properties to the molecular beam epitaxial growth of the Fe/Ag and Fe/Cr/Ag thin films

Fe/Ag and Fe/Cr/Ag thin films grown on MgO (001) single-crystal substrate by molecular beam epitaxy are compared on the basis of their structural properties. The low and high X-ray diffraction measurements have suggested the same dependences of the interface roughness to the thickness of the buffer layer of silver in both kinds of the samples (sample I without Cr seed layer and sample II with Cr layers). However, the surface roughness of sample I was completely reduced by the introduction of the Cr layer in sample II, which was characterized by smooth and well-formed interfaces