Dislocation Structures of Submonolayer Films near the Commensurate-Incommensurate Phase Transition: Ag on Pt(111)

J. C. Hamilton; R. Stumpf; Karsten Bromann; Marcella Giovannini; Klaus Kern; Harald Brune

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.82.4488

Dislocation Structures of Submonolayer Films near the Commensurate-Incommensurate Phase Transition: Ag on Pt(111)

J. C. Hamilton, R. Stumpf, Karsten Bromann, Marcella Giovannini, Klaus Kern, and Harald Brune

Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 4488 – Published 31 May 1999

Abstract

Submonolayer films of Ag on Pt(111) exhibit parallel partial dislocations separated by narrow hcp domains and much wider fcc domains, the large difference in width being atypical of strained metal overlayers on close-packed substrates. Using a two-dimensional Frenkel-Kontorova model, we calculate the relative domain widths. We examine possible effects of dislocations on equilibrium island shape and calculate the energies of stable and metastable dislocation structures versus island size. Experimental results are explained by proximity to the incommensurate-commensurate phase transition.

Received 29 May 1998

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.82.4488

Authors & Affiliations

J. C. Hamilton¹, R. Stumpf², Karsten Bromann³, Marcella Giovannini³, Klaus Kern³, and Harald Brune³

¹Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, California 94551
²Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185
³Institut de Physique Expérimentale, EPF Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland