Direct Imaging of Atomic Rearrangements on Extended Gold Surfaces

Abstract

AbstractRearrangements of atomic columns on extended gold surfaces have been imaged directly using a 500kV high resolution electron microscope. The (100), (110) and (111) surface profiles were all found to be highly mobile and microscopically rough, with (111) in particular developing a characteristic hill-and-valley morphology. The presence of surface steps had a marked influence on the direction of surface diffusion only for the (100) surface. The observations establish that high-resolution profile imaging can provide unique information about surface self-diffusion which is unobtainable by other techniques.