Epitaxial growth of cobalt films on Cu(100): a crystallographic LEED determination

Epitaxial thin films of cobalt ranging from 1 ML up to 10 ML have been grown on a Cu(100) substrate and characterized by LEED. The cobalt is found to grow, adopting a slight tetragonal distortion of its high-temperature FCC phase. Further growth of 5 ML Cu on top of a 5 ML Co film results in an almost perfect Cu(100) surface.