Epitaxial film growth and metastable phases of single crystal Dy by molecular beam epitaxy

Abstract
We have grown two novel epitaxial phases of dysprosium (Dy) on vanadium (V) by the molecular beam epitaxy technique. Surface structures are studied by in situ reflection high‐energy electron diffraction, and bulk structures are studied by x‐ray diffraction after removal from the growth chamber. The new hcp phases are ∼4% expanded uniformly in the (0001) plane and ∼9% and ∼4% expanded out of plane, along the c axes, for noninterrupted and interrupted deposition cases, respectively. We also observed (2×2), (3×3), and (4×4) Dy surface reconstruction patterns and a series of structural changes as the Dy film thickness increases.