Growth morphology of (1×2) α-Sn(1 0 0): a surface diffraction study

Epitaxial growth of α-Sn on the InSb(1 0 0) surface terminates with a α-Sn(1 0 0)(1×2) reconstructed surface phase. It has been studied by means of grazing incidence X-ray diffraction, following the intensity of the diffraction peaks and the crystal truncation rod evolution. The growth morphology of α-Sn(1 0 0) is strongly dependent on the substrate temperature: at 320 K a layer-by-layer epitaxial growth with a low step density is observed. Moreover, the α-Sn(1 0 0) surface presents a two-domain (1×2) reconstruction with a low coherence length (30–40 Å), as deduced from the angular width of the diffraction peaks.