In situ high-temperature high-resolution electron microscopy was applied to a study of the surface modification of Au-deposited Si. The experiment was carried out above the melting points of small particles of Au (approximately several nanometres in diameter) in a 300kV high-resolution analytical transmission electron microscope equipped with a direct-heating-type specimen-heating holder in a vacuum of 4 x 10-6 to 6 x 10-6Pa. Facet-unfacet transformation and reconstruction of the Si{111}, {001}, {211} and {311} surfaces induced by wetting of molten Au atoms were observed at near-atomic resolution. It was concluded that molten Au atoms remove a surface amorphous layer on the Si surface, making the surface clean even in a non ultra-high vacuum.

In situ High-Resolution Electron Microscopy Study on a Surface Reconstruction of Au-Deposited Si at Very High Temperatures. T.Kamino, T.Yaguchi, M.Tomita, H.Saka: Philosophical Magazine A, 1997, 75[1], 105-14