Chromium nano-islands on Au(111)

Abstract

Ordered chromium islands of nanometer sizes formed by sub-monolayer Cr deposition on Au(111) have been studied in this work by scanning tunneling microscopy under ultra high vacuum. Bimodal size distribution of the islands are observed in 0.25-0.45 monolayer (ML) coverage: the bigger islands are formed at the elbows of the herringbone reconstruction, while relatively smaller sized Cr islands appear due to the distortion of the herringbone pattern by the islands formed at the bulged elbows. Further deposition results in increase of the island size with characteristic shapes. Eventually, the islands coalesce resulting in pseudomorphic growth of Cr layers showing (1×1) hexagonal low energy electron diffraction pattern similar to the substrate indicating that Cr grows pseudomorphically on Au(111).©2014 The Surface Science Society of Japan.