Driving forces for Ag-induced periodic faceting of vicinal Cu(111)

TL;DR

This paper investigates how submonolayer silver adsorption induces periodic faceting on vicinal Cu(111), revealing the atomic-scale driving forces and tunable stripe widths that align with elastic theory predictions.

Contribution

It demonstrates the atomic-scale matching mechanism driving Ag-induced faceting and shows how stripe widths can be smoothly tuned, providing experimental validation for elastic theories.

Findings

Ag adsorption induces periodic faceting with alternating Ag-covered and clean Cu stripes.

Stripe widths can be tuned from 3 to 30 nm by adjusting Ag coverage.

Experimental results support elastic theory predictions of stripe formation.

Abstract

Adsorption of submonolayer amounts of Ag on vicinal Cu(111) induces periodic faceting. The equilibrium structure is characterized by Ag-covered facets that alternate with clean Cu stripes. In the atomic scale, the driving force is the matching of Ag(111)-like packed rows with Cu(111) terraces underneath. This determines the preference for the facet orientation and the evolution of different phases as a function of coverage. Both Cu and Ag stripe widths can be varied smoothly in the 3-30 nm range by tuning Ag coverage, allowing to test theoretical predictions of elastic theories.