Growth of a single layer gold stripe and investigation of the preferable growth direction on reconstructed Au(1 1 1) surface using STM

We have investigated the growth of nanometer-scale gold stripes on reconstructed Au(1 1 1) surface using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). The experiment was carried out under the conditions of ultrahigh vacuum and room temperature. The stripes were grown by the scanning motion of the STM tip over the area containing more than one step edge with the tunnel resistance less than several tens of mega ohms (MΩs). Unlike the previous reports [J.C. Heyraud, J.J. Metoris, Surf. Sci. 100 (1989) 519; V.M. Hallmark, S. Chiang, J.F. Rabolt, J.D. Swalen, R.J. Wilson, Phys. Rev. Lett. 59 (1987) 2879], we found, by directly comparing the direction of the stripes and the orientation of the underlying lattice, that the gold stripes grow preferentially along [1,−1,0] direction and its threefold symmetric directions at (1 1 1) surface of fcc structure. We also found that the scanning direction of the STM tip does not affect the direction of the stripe growth although the growth rate is suppressed remarkably when the scanning direction is close to [1,1,−2] direction of Au(1 1 1) surface.