Roughening Transition of a Stepped Cu(113) Surface: A Synchrotron X-Ray-Scattering Study

Abstract

The study of the roughening transition of a stepped surface of Cu(113) has been performed with the use of synchrotron grazing-incidence x-ray scattering. Surface roughening was observed directly from x-ray scans of the step superlattice reflection between 300 and 750 K. The results are interpreted with a theory of Villain, Grempel, and Lapujoulade, and the values of the transition temperature, the step-step repulsive energy, and the kink energy are determined to be 620\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}10 K, 7.4\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.9 meV, and 181\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}6.5 meV, respectively.