The depths of the cores of misfit dislocations, below the film surface, were determined by means of the scanning tunnelling microscopy of Cu/Ru(00•1) thin films. The method was based upon matching areas of unknown structure, to areas having a known stacking sequence, in the same film. The results showed that dislocations occurred not only at the Cu/Ru interface, but also at various levels within the Cu films. The method was expected to be applicable to dislocation structures in other ultra-thin film systems.

Determination of Buried Dislocation Structures by Scanning Tunnelling Microscopy. J.De la Figuera, A.K.Schmid, N.C.Bartelt, K.Pohl, R.Q.Hwang: Physical Review B, 2001, 63[16], 165431 (6pp)