Influence of terrace widths on Au(111) reconstruction

Abstract

The effect of steps on the herringbone pattern appearing at the $\mathrm{Au}(111)$ surface is explored. Scanning tunneling microscopy investigations show that the number of alternating fcc and hcp regions decreases with the decreasing width of the terrace, in fair agreement with atomistic simulations. It is demonstrated that the steps locally release the tensile surface stresses, leading to a reorganization of the herringbone pattern.