A scanning tunnelling microscopy study of the ordered alloy Pt3Sn was presented. The (111) surface showed a bulk terminated p(2 x 2) structure or a (√3 x √3)R30° reconstruction, depending on preparation conditions. In addition, the reconstructed surface exhibited a mesoscopic honeycomb network. The network indicated the presence of sub-surface dislocations, which were induced by a tin depletion due to preferential sputtering. On the p(2 x 2) structure small islands with uniform size were found, which were attributed to segregated tin.

Reconstruction and Dislocation Network Formation of the (111) Surface of the Ordered Alloy Pt3Sn. J.Kuntze, S.Speller, W.Heiland, A.Atrei, I.Spolveri, U.Bardi: Physical Review B, 1998, 58, R16005-8