A transmission electron microscopic investigation was made of the particle number densities, sizes, and spatial distributions of Au deposits on NaCl cleavage surfaces with various defect densities. In the case of substrates with medium to high defect densities, the particles were randomly distributed due to the decoration of point defects. In the case of very low defect densities, the spatial distributions were non-uniform; with peaks at both large separations and at a preferred edge-to-edge distance of 6nm. The results were explained by superposing inter-particle attractive and repulsive forces which originated from strain fields in the substrate lattice in the vicinity of the clusters, and stresses at the interface between cluster and substrate, respectively.

R.Anton, M.Harsdorff, A.Möller: Physica Status Solidi A, 1994, 146[1], 269-76