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

Two gold vicinal surfaces misoriented by 6 degrees, in opposite direction w ith respect to the (1,1,1) plane, namely the (4,5,5) and the(11,9,9) surfac es have been studied by grazing incidence X-ray diffraction. The main diffe rence between these two surfaces is the step microscopic structure since th e (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 o pen the way to understand the original faceting properties of gold vicinal surfaces. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.