Temperature and coverage-dependent evolution of the Au/Pd(110) surface structure

Marko Kralj (1) , Aude Bailly (2) , Marie-Claire Saint-Lager (2) , Stefan Degen (3) , Aleksander Krupski (3) , Conrad Becker (3) , Pierre Dolle (2) , Maurizio de Santis (2) , Klaus Wandelt (3)

1 Laboratory for Surface Science and Supported Nanostructures
2 Laboratoire de Cristallographie
3 IPTC - Institut für Physikalische und Theoretische Chemie

The morphology and the atomic scale structure of thin gold films (up to 2.5 ML) on Pd(110) were studied by means of scanning tunneling microscopy and surface X-ray diffraction. At room temperature the films exhibit a multilayer growth mode accompanied by the formation of highly anisotropic islands. Annealing above 500 K significantly increases the smoothness of the gold films, which are in registry with the substrate. Above a critical threshold of two monolayers a (1x2) missing-row reconstructed film is found. This reconstructed surface is well ordered after annealing at temperatures above 580 K. The specific gold film morphology is envisaged as a way to relax the strain caused by the mismatch between gold and palladium.

Mots clés: Gold; Thin film structure and morphology; Palladium; Scanning tunneling microscopy; X-ray diffraction and scattering; Surface reconstruction

Domaines: Autre [cond-mat.other]

Marko Kralj, Aude Bailly, Marie-Claire Saint-Lager, Stefan Degen, Aleksander Krupski, et al.. Temperature and coverage-dependent evolution of the Au/Pd(110) surface structure. Surface Science : A Journal Devoted to the Physics and Chemistry of Interfaces, 2006, 600, pp.2614. ⟨10.1016/j.susc.2006.04.030⟩. ⟨hal-00703277⟩