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High resolution images of a Au(334) surface in air have been obtained by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). The surfaces were prepared in ultrahigh vacuum and produced clean Auger spectra and ordered stepped low-energy electron diffraction patterns. Exposure to air caused a small irreversible carbon contamination. The STM images in air revealed a structure of parallel steps of monatomic height grouped in domains that are several hundred angstroms wide and a few tens of angstroms high. These large domains are part of a surface that is smooth on the scale of several thousands of angstroms.
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Salmerón et al. (1987) studied this question.
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