Homoepitaxial growth of iron and a real space view of reflection-high-energy-electron diffraction

Abstract

We report real space views of the homoepitaxial growth of Fe on Fe(001) whiskers observed by scanning tunneling microscopy. A measure of the surface diffusion of the Fe atoms is obtained over the temperature range of 20--250 \ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}C. The effect of the diffusion kinetics is observed in the surface morphology as a decrease in the interface width with temperature. Measurements of reflection-high-energy-electron diffraction during growth allow a comparison of real and reciprocal space techniques.