AVS 49th International Symposium
    Surface Science Wednesday Sessions
       Session SS2-WeA

Paper SS2-WeA6
Nucleation and Growth of Ag Films on a Quasicrystalline AlPdMn Surface

Wednesday, November 6, 2002, 3:40 pm, Room C-110

Session: Structure and Chemistry at Metal Surfaces
Presenter: P.A. Thiel, Iowa State University
Authors: V. Fourn@aa e@e, Iowa State University
T. Cai, Iowa State University
A.R. Ross, Iowa State University
T.A. Lograsso, Iowa State University
J.W. Evans, Iowa State University
P.A. Thiel, Iowa State University
Correspondent: Click to Email
Nucleation and growth of thin films of Ag on the 5-fold surface of an Al72Pd19.5Mn8.5 icosahedral quasicrystal is studied with STM. For low coverages, flux-independent island nucleation is observed, likely involving adatom capture at "traps". With increas ing coverage, islands start growing vertically, but then spread, and ultimately form hexagonal nanocrystals. These have fcc symmetry and pyramid-like multilayer stacking along the <111> direction. The constituent hexagonal islands have five different orientations, rotated by 2p/5, thus remembering the symmetry of the substrate. These results are discussed in the context of strategies most likely to yield pseudomorphic growth.