Gyu-Bong Cho

Film thickness dependence on morphology of Fe films on self-organized SrTiO3 (001) substrates with inclined angles

Abstract The morphologies of Fe films between 1 and 10 nm thick grown on inclined SrTiO3 (001) substrates were investigated by scanning tunneling microscopy. Three-dimensional Fe clusters were formed in all the films and the shape of the clusters changed with the film thickness. As the film thickness increased, the average cluster height and size obtained from their distributions increased, but the surface roughness decreased. The values of the average cluster size and height, and the surface roughness in the films with different film thickness clarified the growth of the Fe films. In the 1 nm-thick Fe film, isolated clusters were observed, but when the film is greater than 3 nm thick, the films consisted of two parts. The lower part was a continuous film and the upper part was a cluster coagulation.