The nature and the role of 1 to 5 nm thick ${\mathrm{TiO}}_2$ seed layers for the growth of textured ${\mathrm{PbTiO}}_3$ and ${\mathrm{Pb(Zr,Ti)O}}_3$ thin films on textured Pt(111) thin film substrates have been studied. Under otherwise identical in situ sputter deposition process conditions, the ${\mathrm{PbTiO}}_3$ texture could be turned from (100) to (111) orientation by adding the seed layer. This is demonstrated by patterning the ${\mathrm{TiO}}_2$ film. Auger electron spectroscopy and x-ray photoemission spectroscopy showed that the seed layer was a continuous ${\mathrm{TiO}}_2$ film. X-ray photoelectron diffraction measurements revealed epitaxial ordering in the seed layer. As there is no azimutal order among the Pt grains, the reduced information of azimutally averaged polar cuts is obtained. These give strong evidence for a strained rutile (110) structure. Various deposition experiments indicated that the ${\mathrm{TiO}}_2$ is effective only when it is ordered before the ${\mathrm{PbTiO}}_3$ nucleation starts. The epitaxial relationship between ${\mathrm{PbTiO}}_3$ (111) and Pt(111) is thus mediated by the intermediate, epitaxial ${\mathrm{TiO}}_2$ film, which is dissolved or transformed to ${\mathrm{PbTiO}}_3$ afterwards. The observed growth behavior is discussed in terms of surface and interface energies.

Although significant insight into fullerene-substrate interactions has come from recent surface science studies, to date there has been no unambiguous way to determine the molecular orientation of adsorbed ${\mathrm{C}}_{60}$ molecules. We show that photoelectron diffraction patterns from monolayer ${\mathrm{C}}_{60}$ films are directly related to the intramolecular structure of ${\mathrm{C}}_{60}$. This allows for the first time a direct and unambiguous identification of the molecular orientation of the adsorbed fullerenes with respect to the substrate. A variety of molecular orientations is observed on different substrates.