Metal epitaxy depending on the growth temperature during deposition

Time of flight impact-collision ion scattering (TOF-ICISS) has been used to investigate the heteroepitaxial growth of 3 ML of Au or Ag on Ni(1 1 1), and Ag on Cu(1 1 1) over a wide temperature range from 170 through 680 K. We found that two different types of epitaxial growth exist: M(1 1 1)[1 1 2̄]/Sub(1 1 1)[1 1 2̄] (normal mode) and M(1 1 1)[1 1 2]//Sub(1 1 1))[1 1 2̄] (reverse mode) (M represents Au or Ag, and Sub represents Ni or Cu, respectively). Moreover the relative amounts of these two growth modes show an observed oscillatory dependence on the growth temperature during metal deposition. It is our belief that this is previously unobserved phenomena. It is sufficiently general to encompass metal-on-metal systems.