Direct observation of surface chemical order by scanning tunneling microscopy

Abstract

We present the first scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) study which allows clear discrimination of two chemical species in a metal alloy. Special tunneling conditions, which we attribute to an adsorbate at the STM tip, cause a difference in corrugation between Pt and Ni atoms of 0.3 \AA{}. The STM data reveal chemical short-range order at the surface, which is in agreement with embedded atom simulations and can be understood as small domains of an L${1}_{0}$ ordered phase.