Epitaxial Orientation Studies of Gold on uhv-Cleaved Mica during Early Stages of Nucleation and Growth

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Abstract
The epitaxial deposition of gold on mica under well-defined deposition and substrate surface conditions was studied in detail. Unconventional electron microscopy methods using newly developed lattice imaging and Bragg reflex-imaging techniques were employed for an in-depth analysis of epitaxial orientational relationships. In addition to the expected parallel and 30 ° rotated {111} orientations of the deposit, a strong genuine {211} orientation (as opposed to a twinned {111} orientation) was found for the first time in very early stages of deposition and hypothetically linked to regional heterogeneities of the actual cleavage structure of the substrate surface. Multiple twinning was found to occur only in later stages of deposition.