Surface structural analysis of LiF(100) thin films grown on Pt(111)

The surface structure of a multilayer LiF(100) thin film grown on Pt(111) from the vapor has been determined by the automated tensor low energy electron diffraction (LEED) method. The final structure, which refined to a Pendry R-factor (RP) of 0.24, had a surface corrugation (D1) of 0.24+-0.04 Angstrom due to the Li+ being displaced towards the bulk, leaving the initially coplanar F - unshifted. A similar intralayer corrugation due to the movement of the Li+ was also observed in the layer immediately under the surface layer, although to a lesser degree: D2=0.07+-0.04 Angstrom. This asymmetric relaxation resulted in the reduction of the first interlayer spacing, d(F2-Li1), to 1.77+-0.0 6 Angstrom from the ideal value of 2.01 Angstrom. The second interlayer spacing, d(Li3-F2), was within error bars of the bulk value, 2.01 Angstrom