Early stages of gold and silver growth on alpha-MoTe2, beta-MoTe2 and WTe2

The early stages of growth of gold and silver on (001) surfaces of alpha-Mo Te2, beta-MoTe2 and WTe2 were studied by means of scanning tunneling micros copy. Metals were deposited at room temperature at a rate of about one mono layer per minute. It is shown that, prior to the epitaxial growth of the no ble metal, a local interaction between the impinging atoms and the substrat e takes place. During this period the noble-metal atoms diffuse through vac ancies in the top tellurium layer and occupy enlarged interstices in the ch alcogen-metal-chalcogen sandwich layers, where they agglomerate into one-at om-thick islands. Their shape and size depend on the stress between them an d the substrate, and they remain stable at room temperature.