Experiments with a scanning tunnelling microscope were reported which include the first surface topographic images of Au(111), cleaned and annealed in ultrahigh vacuum. The scanning tunnelling microscopy system used for this work includes in situ sample manipulation for sample cleaning, annealing and characterization. Topographs with very large atomically flat (111) regions were obtained and no corrugation on the scale of about 0.1Å was observed. Some single atomic steps were observed. Surprisingly, ordered arrays of single steps were observed over a large region. These represent a type of surface reconstruction whose repeat period agrees with values derived from previous low-energy electron diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and ion scattering measurements. These results represent the first critical information about the surface topography of the Au(111) surface.

Direct Observation of an Ordered Step Surface Reconstruction on Au(111) by Scanning Tunnelling Microscopy. W.J.Kaiser, R.C.Jaklevic: Surface Science, 1987, 182[3], L227-33