Observations, using a variable-temperature scanning tunnelling microscope, were reported for the spontaneous formation of domain boundaries in the missing-row reconstruction of Au(110). The domain boundaries nucleate at two different types of special sites on the surface, where steps either cross or terminate. The length distribution of the domain boundaries was described already rather well by a simple theory, which accounts not only for the formation energy of the domain boundary, but also for the change in free energy of the steps in the vicinity of the boundary. The best fit was obtained by including also elastic step-step interactions. The formation of domain boundaries on a perfect Au(110) surface formed the onset of the deconstruction transition, in which the missing-row reconstruction was destroyed.

Domain Boundary Formation on Au(110). M.J.Rost, S.B.van Albada, J.W.M.Frenken: Europhysics Letters, 2002, 59[4], 559-65