Adsorbate-induced nanostructuring of vicinal surfaces: the Ag-Cu system

Abstract

A new possibility for producing regularly spaced nanostripes with controllable periodicity is the deposition of Ag on vicinal Cu(111) surfaces. This self-structuring originates from two different characteristic length scales of two active physical mechanisms. On the atomic scale, commensurability of Ag(111)-like structures on certain Cu planes leads to spontaneous facet formation. On the mesoscopic scale, a rippled structure is formed in which Ag and Cu nanostripes alternate. A unique property of this hill-and-valley structure is that the periodicity of the stripes can be controlled via the Ag coverage. Predictions on the basis of continuum models with long range elastic interactions can explain quantitatively the periodicities of the nanostripes.