Mb. Hugenschmidt et al., ISLAND ASSISTED SURFACE ALLOYING OBSERVED AFTER NI DEPOSITION ON AU(110)-(1X2), Physical review letters, 76(14), 1996, pp. 2535-2538
The influence of adislands on surface alloying is studied with scannin
g tunneling microscopy, ion scattering, and x-ray photoelectron spectr
oscopy. After deposition of Ni on the Au(110)-(1 x 2) surface at 300 K
, substitutional Ni atoms are found between adislands in the top Au ro
ws of the terrace. An asymmetry in their lateral distribution with res
pect to adislands along [110] is found. It reveals that these Ni atoms
are incorporated during island ripening, when small clusters of adato
ms, in a double row configuration, merge to form 2D adislands. This me
chanism, termed ''island assisted alloying,'' interrelates surface all
oying and growth.