SURFACE MODIFICATION AND ATOMIC RESOLUTION ON A VACUUM-ANNEALED GOLD FOIL IN AIR BY SCANNING TUNNELING MICROSCOPY

Scanning tunneling microscopy has been used to investigate changes in a vacuum-annealed gold surface induced by the application of voltage pulses to the tip. After a 2-V 1.5-s pulse a hole several hundreds of angstroms wide and of similar depth was generated, the responsibility being ascribed to ion arcing. We present a time-lapse sequence showing its decay process, from which surface-diffusion velocities between 4 and 0.1 Å s-1 have been determined. From the new surface, a scan showing atomic resolution has been obtained, giving different interatomic spacings (S) and atomic diameters (D) in two lattice directions at an angle of 60°. These are S=2.1 Å and D=2.0 Å for the short axis and S=3.1 and 3.8 Å and D=2.7 Å for the long axis.