Using a combination of photo-electron diffraction and scanning tunnelling microscopy the Cu(100)c(2 x 2)-N surface was shown to undergo a symmetry-lowering reconstruction with a strong (0.34Å) periodic distortion of the outermost Cu layer perpendicular to the surface. The rumpling reconstruction was shown to account for N-N attractions which create c(2 x 2) islands and the systematic behaviour of inter-island boundary widths in the mesoscopic self-organization of this surface.

Cu(100)c(2 x 2)-N - a New Type of Adsorbate-Induced Surface Reconstruction. S.M.Driver, J.T.Hoeft, M.Polcik, M.Kittel, R.Terborg, R.L.Toomes, J.H.Kang, D.P.Woodruff: Journal of Physics - Condensed Matter, 2001, 13[26], L601-6