Photoelectron diffraction study of ultrathin film growth of Ni on Pt(111)

X-ray photoelectron diffraction (PD) based on a forward scattering approach (FS-PD) has been used to study the growth mode of the first few Ni monolayers deposited on the Pt(111) surface, with a particular attention to the initial stages of epitaxy, i.e. the formation of the first atomic layer. Strong evidences for a layer-by-layer (or Frank-Van der Merwe) growth mode are reported, substantiated also by theoretical simulations carried out with the single scattering cluster-spherical wave (SSC-SW) framework. The first Ni monolayer grows strained in-plane to match the substrate pseudomorphically even if there is a 10% mismatch between the lattice parameters of Ni and Pt. The multilayer (up at least to six monolayers) maintains the horizontal strain and consequently shows a vertical spacing contraction (tetragonal distorsion). It retains the overall threefold symmetry and azimuthal orientation of the substrate, indicative of a single-domain epitaxial fcc stacking. There is also some evidence (even if it is not conclusive) for the fact that the Ni atoms of the first monolayer occupy hcp sites of the substrate surface.