Nuclei of the Pt(111) network reconstruction created by single ion impacts

Abstract

The surface damange induced on Pt(111) by single rare gas ion impacts with energies down to a few hundred eV has been investigated by scanning tunneling microscopy. In addition to craters and adatom islands there are also characteristic reconstruction patterns in the vicinity of the ion impacts. It is demonstrated that these reconstructed areas are nuclei of the reconstruction network which has been discovered recently to be induced by Pt vapor phase deposition. The formation of these nuclei by ion bombardment is discussed in terms of currently used damage generation models.