LEED Study of the Growth of Aluminum Films on the Ta(110) Surface

Abstract
Growth of aluminum films on clean Ta(110) surfaces has been investigated by LEED techniques. Five phases of aluminum have been found, which are: (1) disordered Al(111), formed by depositing at Tc(2×2) formed by heating film, deposited at Tc(2×2), formed by heating film, deposited 300<TT in range 600<T<670°C; (5) Diffuse phase, formed by heating any of the preceding to 800°C. Two orientations of each structure have been observed; this results from the close match between primitive unit meshes of aluminum (111), (100) and Ta(110). A mechanism for the growth of Al(111) and Al(100) is suggested. Comparisons with some published LEED data on epitaxy are made.