Patterning of Heteroepitaxial Overlayers from Nano to Micron Scales

Author(s)

Elder, K. R. ^[1] ; Rossi, G. ^{[2, 3]} ; Kanerva, P. ^{[2, 3]} ; Sanches, F. ^[1] ; Ying, S-C. ^[4] ; Granato, E. ^{[4, 5]} ; Achim, C. V. ^{[2, 3]} ; Ala-Nissila, T. ^{[4, 2, 3]}

Affiliation

^[1] Oakland Univ, Dept Phys, Rochester, MI 48309 - USA

^[2] Aalto Univ, Sch Sci, Dept Appl Phys, FI-00076 Espoo - Finland

^[3] Aalto Univ, Sch Sci, COMP Ctr Excellence, FI-00076 Espoo - Finland

^[4] Brown Univ, Dept Phys, Providence, RI 02912 - USA

^[5] Inst Nacl Pesquisas Espaciais, Lab Associado Sensores & Mat, BR-12227010 Sao Jose Dos Campos, SP - Brazil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: Physical Review Letters; v. 108, n. 21 MAY 29 2012.
• Web of Science Citations: 43

Abstract

Thin heteroepitaxial overlayers have been proposed as templates to generate stable, self-organized nanostructures at large length scales, with a variety of important technological applications. However, modeling strain-driven self-organization is a formidable challenge due to different length scales involved. In this Letter, we present a method for predicting the patterning of ultrathin films on micron length scales with atomic resolution. We make quantitative predictions for the type of superstructures (stripes, honeycomb, triangular) and length scale of pattern formation of two metal-metal systems, Cu on Ru(0001) and Cu on Pd(111). Our findings are in excellent agreement with previous experiments and call for future experimental investigations of such systems. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 07/08492-9 - Dynamics, topological defects and phase transitions in ordered media
• Grantee: Enzo Granato
• Support Opportunities: Research Projects - Thematic Grants