ATOMIC FORCE MICROSCOPY STUDIES AND MODELING OF SURFACE STRUCTURES PATTERNED DURING OSTWALD RIPENING AT Fe/Mo MULTILAYER SYSTEMS

Fe/Mo multilayers which were grown by sputtering, annealed in high vacuum and analyzed by means of Atomic Force Microscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopy. Concentric circle-1ike patterns were observed after annealing. Two-dimensional Ostwald ripening mechanisms in immiscible systems of Fe/Mo may explain the formation of these structures. We simulated pattern formation in a late stage of the phase separation by applying the Thomas-Freundlich thermodynamic relation. Based on a two-dimensional mode1 in the framework of the Lifshitz-Slyozov theory, our modeling has been extended to include the diffusion limitation in a multi-cluster system.