Tip-induced nanostructuring of alloy surfaces with an electrochemical scanning tunneling microscope

Tip-induced nanostructuring with an electrochemical scanning tunneling microscope (EC-STM) was applied to alloy surfaces in order to resolve the reasons for the unusual stability of tip-induced metal clusters to anodic oxidation. Therefore Au thin films on glass and AuCu-alloy single crystals of different composition and surface orientation were used as substrates. The experiments give evidence that the three main factors for cluster formation and stability are the attractive interaction between tip and substrate, alloy formation during the cluster formation process as well as additional stabilization by adsorption of an underpotential deposition layer. Experimental results on the three aspects are presented and discussed.