The growth of a monolayer of Au on Ni(111) was shown to lead to the appearance of an ordered array of misfit dislocation loops in the underlying Ni surface. Indications of the presence of these loops were detected by means of scanning tunnelling microscopy, and atomistic simulations were used to relate the observed surface structures to those of the buried interface. The new interface structure was different to normal misfit dislocation structures in that it already formed during the growth of a single Au monolayer, formed in the substrate and not in the over-layer, and was controlled by the interface energy rather than by the strains in the 2 phases.

J.Jacobsen, L.P.Nielsen, F.Besenbacher, I.Stensgaard, E.Lægsgaard, T.Rasmussen, K.W.Jacobsen, J.K.Nørskov: Physical Review Letters, 1995, 75[3], 489-92