Transition between two competing structures in the epitaxial Ag layer on W(110)

Abstract

Two competing structures, "ridges" and "troughs," are observed in the first epitaxial layer of Ag on the W(110) surface with a scanning tunneling microscope. The mixed tensile and compressive strain is locally relieved by ridges and troughs in the epitaxial layer. Ag atoms are mainly commensurate with the body-centered-cubic sites of the W(110) substrate, and are partly incommensurate around misfit dislocations. The energy barrier and kinetics between these two structures are sufficiently low and slow enough to observe the structural transformation at room temperature.