Mismatch Dislocations Caused by Preferential Sputtering of a Platinum-Nickel Alloy Surface

M. Schmid, A. Biedermann, H. Stadler, C. Slama and P. Varga

Institut für Allgemeine Physik, Technische Universität Wien, A-1040 Wien, Austria

Appl. Phys. A 55 (1992) 468-475

Preferential sputtering and recoil mixing of a Pt₂₅Ni₇₅(111) single crystal surface leads to platinum enrichment in the upper monolayers, thereby increasing the lattice constant in these layers. This results in subsurface lattice mismatch dislocations, which have been studied by scanning tunneling microscopy. While the subsurface dislocations are only visible as shallow ditches in STM topographs, the Burgers vectors of the dislocation system can be determined by means of atomically resolved images of dislocations reaching the surface. A comparison with simulations of lattice relaxation using embedded atom potentials shows good agreement with STM data and further allows the determination of the thickness of the Pt enrichment. We have estimated the Pt concentration in these layers from the dislocation density and studied the annealing behaviour of the surface.

Part of this work is on display in the IAP/TU Wien STM Gallery (see the dislocations page).

Corresponding author: M. Schmid (schmid).