RHEED investigations on the "pseudomorphic" growth of cobalt on Cu(001)

Using an advanced reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED) system we found oscillations of the in-plane lattice spacing on the monolayer scale during deposition of Co on Cu(001) [J. Fassbender et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 75 (1995) 4476]. Here we present in detail the influence of the deposition rate on these oscillations and therefore on the growth process. With increasing deposition rate an enhanced variation of the in-plane lattice spacing occurs which is interpreted as a transition from a layer-by-layer to a more three-dimensional growth mode only for the first two monolayers. An unexpected linear behavior between the deposition rate and the maximum in-plane relaxation is found.