Epitaxy of ultrathin CoO films studied by XPD and GIXRD

CoO layers have been grown by exposing to oxygen the (001) body-centered-tetragonal (bct) surface of a Co ultrathin film epitaxially grown on Fe(001). Different oxide thicknesses in the 2-15 ML range have been investigated by means of synchrotron-radiation-based techniques. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy has been used to check the formation of the oxide films; X-ray photoelectron diffraction has given information concerning the symmetry of their unit cell; grazing incidence X-ray diffraction has allowed to evaluate precisely their in-plane lattice constant. The films show a CoO(001) rocksalt structure, rotated by 45degrees with respect to the bct Co substrate, with the [100] direction parallel to the substrate [110] direction. Their in-plane lattice constant increases as a function of thickness, to release the in-plane strain due to the 3% mismatch between the bulk CoO phase and the underlying substrate.