Epitaxial growth of Ag on Au(111) studied by scanning tunneling microscopy

The initial stages and formation of subsequent layers in the room-temperature epitaxy of Ag on Au (111) have been studied using a scanning tunneling microscope in ultrahigh vacuum. Overall, the growth is layer by layer. At submonolayer coverages growth in fingerlike rows locked to the Au (111) (p 3) rectangular reconstruction is observed. One monolayer of Ag removes the substrate surface reconstruction. Higher coverages exhibit clustering and coalescence by growth in terrace shapes consistent with the symmetry of the Ag (111) surface.