Scanning tunneling microscopy and low energy electron diffraction were used to investigate the growth of partly twinned Ir thin films on Ir(111). A transition from the expected layer-by-layer to a defect dominated growth mode with a fixed lateral length scale and increasing roughness was observed. During growth, the majority of the film was stably transformed to twinned stacking. This transition was initiated by the energetic avoidance of the formation of intrinsic stacking faults compared to two independent twin faults. The atomistic details of the defect kinetics were outlined.

New Growth Mode through Decorated Twin Boundaries. S.Bleikamp, A.Thoma, C.Polop, G.Pirug, U.Linke, T.Michely: Physical Review Letters, 2006, 96[11], 115503 (4pp)