Scanning tunneling microscopy study of thermal-diffusion-assisted self-organization on a tungsten crystal surface

The initial stage of faceting on the tungsten (110) vicinal plane during annealing in conditions close to thermodynamic equilibrium or favoring thermal-diffusion-assisted mass transport is studied by scanning tunneling microscopy. In the first case, the initial nanofacets (the traces left after electrochemical polishing) arrayed at a repeat frequency q=(3–4)·10⁵ cm⁻¹ merge to form microsteps with clearly pronounced faceting. In the second, the nanofacet pattern is overlaid by a wavelike, sinusoidally corrugated structure. The corrugation frequency is in a good agreement with the theoretical estimate obtained within the surface mass-transport model. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 39, 968–971 (June 1997)