Growth and structure of Mn on Au(111) at room temperature

The growth of ultrathin Mn films on single crystal Au(111) substrates was investigated over a wide range of coverages using scanning tunneling microscopy and low energy electron diffraction (LEED) at room temperature. The measurements show that for submonolayer coverages the Mn atoms nucleate at the elbows of the (22 x root3) reconstruction of the Au(111) surface and are partly incorporated into the topmost layer of the Au(111) substrate forming a surface alloy. Further deposition leads to compact alloy islands with a thickness of (2.90 +/- 0.10) Angstrom. A layer-by-layer growth of fee manganese was observed up to 3 ML. A morphology transition from fee Mn into the cubic bulk crystal structure of Mn proceeds between 4 and 6 ML of Mn with a corresponding change in the LEED pattern from a (1 x 1) structure for 0-4 ML of Mn to a (root3 x root3)R30degrees structure for thicker Mn films. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.