It was noted that the deposition of S onto a monolayer of Ag/Ru(00▪1) transformed the herringbone pattern of a clean Ag film into a very regular array of 2-dimensional vacancy islands. Time-resolved scanning tunneling microscopy revealed that this nm-scale restructuring occurred via a cooperative mechanism that involved the sequential formation of triangular regions with face-centered cubic and hexagonal close-packed stackings. By using a 2-dimensional Frenkel-Kontorova model, it was possible to simulate the creation of the triangular building blocks in terms of basic dislocation motions and reactions.

Self-Assembly via Adsorbate-Driven Dislocation Reactions. K.Thurmer, C.B.Carter, N.C.Bartelt, R.Q.Hwang: Physical Review Letters, 2004, 92[10], 106101 (4pp)