Scanning tunneling microscopy has been used to study the growth of Gd on W(100) in which an inverted island-substrate step structure is seen for deposition at elevated temperatures. This results in lower step heights than would be the case if the islands followed the step morphology, and a reduction of the exposure of high-energy Gd faces. Deposition at lower temperatures results in flat islands whose size is related to the deposition temperature, with the data supporting a local Stranski-Krastinov growth mechanism. Low-energy electron diffraction indicates that the islands are terminated by the Gd(0001) face and that a (8×2) overlayer is formed.

• Received 5 August 1997

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.56.R10071