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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 February 2011
STM and molecular dynamics simulations are used to study Au(001) 5×25 reconstructed surfaces after Ar+ bombardment at 600 eV and ion doses from 0.05 to 1 ML+. Surface 2D dislocation dipoles, identified as such in a previous investigation, are shown to have dislocation properties and to be formed by anisotropic diffusion of surface vacancies along the ridges of the reconstructed topmost layer. A new vacancy diffusion mechanism involving intermediate states with de-localized vacancies is identified. Increasing ion fluences is shown to lead to the formation of vacancy islands that are nucleated at the dislocation dipoles.