Growth of Co ON Ag(100): A Comparison of Ultra Low Energyion Beam Deposition and Thermal Deposition

We have investigated the growth of Co deposited on Ag(100) with ultra low energy ion beam deposition. The preferred sites of nucleation, the island densities and heights are determined with scanning tunneling microscopy. Submonolayers of Co were ion beam deposited at 300 K using energies between 5 and 30 eV. Preferential growth of islands on the upper side of the mono-atomic Ag steps (i.e. step decoration) is observed for deposition energies of 5 and 15 eV. In addition, 3–4 ML deep holes are formed in the Ag substrate for deposition at 5 eV. At higher deposition energies, the number of holes per surface area decreases. The results are compared with experiments on thermal deposition of Co on Ag(100) as a function of substrate temperature, performed in a previous study.