Thickness Induced Buckling of bcc Copper Films

Abstract

Copper films electrodeposited on Au(100) develop a buckling instability after the 11th layer leading to stripes with a 60--75 \AA{} period. Analysis of the x-ray diffraction data shows that the entire copper film restructures by forming regions which are locally orthorhombic in a spatially modulated pattern. This distortion is supported by first-principles calculations.