Structure of mono- and bilayer FeO on Ru(0001): STM and DFT study

• Published in: Journal of magnetism and magnetic materials 2022-03, Vol.546, p.168832, Article 168832
• Main Authors: Ossowski, Tomasz, Wang, Ying, Carraro, Giovanni, Kiejna, Adam, Lewandowski, Mikołaj
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Configurations; Crystal lattices; Crystal structure; Density functional theory; Density functional theory (DFT); Interlayers; Iron; Iron monoxide (FeO); Ruthenium; Scanning tunneling microscopy; Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM); Single crystals; Structural models; Structural stability; Structure; Ultrathin films
• ISSN: 0304-8853; 1873-4766
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jmmm.2021.168832

•STM and DFT are used to study the structure of FeO/Ru(0001).•Structural models of mono- and bilayer FeO on Ru(0001) are proposed.•The possible magnetic configurations are discussed. Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and density functional theory (DFT) are used to determine the structure of mono- and bilayer iron monoxide (FeO) islands and films grown on Ru(0001). The experimental results provide information on the atomic and Moiré periodicities, the height of mono- and bilayer structures, the mutual shift of their crystalline lattices and the rotation with respect to the underlying single-crystal support. Based on the determined parameters, structural models are proposed. The calculations reveal the preferred stacking configurations of Fe and O layers in both structures, their stability within different high-symmetry regions of the Moiré supercell (top, fcc, hcp), the interlayer spacings and the possible magnetic configurations.