ON THE ROLE OF KINKS AND STRAIN IN HETEROEPITAXIAL GROWTH: AN STM STUDY

Interlayer diffusion of Co over steps of vacancy islands on the Pt(111) surface as studied by scanning tunneling microscopy is presented. It is demonstrated that Co atoms descend Pt steps by an exchange diffusion process at the step edge with the Pt atoms. Further, the exchange diffusion process is observed to occur at the corners (kinks) of the vacancy islands. The importance of kinks concerning whether the growth mode of a heteropitaxial film is two-dimensional or three-dimensional is demonstrated for the case of thin Co films on Pt(111). We argue that the strain in the Co film is to a large extent responsible for the kink formation.