After a brief discussion of the problems involved in the determination of the structure of stepped surfaces, we report the results of a quantitative low-energy electron diffraction (QLEED) analysis of a Cu{320} surface. This surface features {110} terraces with three atom rows, separated by steps whose normal lies in the 〈001〉 direction. The distance between successive {320} layers in the bulk is 0.501 Å—one of the shortest interlayer distances studied to date. The analysis was done with the CHANGE computer program on a desktop computer. Calling $\Delta d_{\mathrm{ij}}$ the change in the distance between layers i and j, we found the following multilayer sequence: $\Delta d_{12}=(-24\pm 6)\%,$ $\Delta d_{23}=(-16\pm 12)\%,$ and $\Delta d_{34}=(+10\mathrm{}\pm 6)\%.$ The problems involved in the collection of experimental data and in the QLEED analysis of stepped surfaces are discussed.

• Received 20 September 1999

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.61.4904