Evidence was presented for the clustering of Au impurity atoms into randomly distributed rods (1 to 2nm long) in material which had been grown by using the self-flux technique and Au crucibles. The electron diffraction patterns exhibited very weak diffuse streaks along <100> and <010>, and these streaks persisted over several degrees of tilt; thus indicating the presence of rod-like defects. Multi-slice image simulations of various defect types, including the effect of amorphous C, were compared with high-resolution images. It was found that the model which best fitted the experimental data involved defects that were made up of Au-O vacancy rods that were 3 to 4 unit cells long and lay along <010>, or of Au-O interstitial rods which lay along (100).

B.G.Storey, M.A.Kirk, L.D.Marks: Physica C, 1995, 246[1-2], 46-54