Microscopic aspects of the Fe/Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 reactive interface

A morphological model of the Volmer-Weber type is developed for the reactive interface formed between Fe and a Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 single-crystal surface which takes into account microscopic aspects of the growth such as clustering, metal oxidation via the superconductor substrate, and diffusion through the cluster of elemental species released in the metal-surface redox reaction. The experimental findings of a local chemical analysis by core emission spectroscopy and an atomic-scale structural characterization by scanning tunneling microscopy are in good quantitative agreement with the proposed model indicating that the basic microscopic assumptions are correct