Morphology of Au(1,1,1) vicinal surfaces studied by grazing incidence X-ray diffraction

Abstract

6th International Conference on X-ray and Neutron Scattering, LEEWENHORST CONGRESS CTR, NOORDWIJKERHOUT, NETHERLANDS, SEP 12-17, 1999Two gold vicinal surfaces misoriented by 6 degrees, in opposite direction with respect to the (1,1,1) plane, namely the (4,5,5) and the(11,9,9) surfaces have been studied by grazing incidence X-ray diffraction. The main difference between these two surfaces is the step microscopic structure since the (4,5,5) surface presents \1,1,1\ like steps whereas the (11,9,9) surface exposes \1,0,0\ like steps, Two strongly different faceted morphologies are observed in good agreement with Scanning Tunneling Microscopy experiments. Surface reconstruction has also been extensively studied and our results open the way to understand the original faceting properties of gold vicinal surfaces. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved