About 1 monolayer of palladium was deposited onto a silicon (111) 7
× 7 surface at a temperature of about 550 K inside an ultrahigh
vacuum transmission electron microscope, resulting in formation of
Pd2Si nanoislands and a 1 × 1 surface layer. Pd
clusters created from an excess of Pd atoms on the 1 × 1 surface
layer were directly observed by in situ plan view
high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. When an objective
aperture was introduced so that electron diffractions less than 0.20 nm
were filtered out, the lattice structure of the 1 × 1 surface
with 0.33 nm spacing and the Pd clusters with a trimer shape were
visualized. It was found that image contrast of the 1 × 1 lattice
on the specific height terraces disappeared, and thereby an atomic
structure of the Pd clusters was clearly observed. The appearance and
disappearance of the 1 × 1 lattice was explained by the effect of
the kinematical diffraction. It was identified that a Pd cluster was
composed of three Pd atoms without a centered Si atom, which is
consistent with the model proposed previously. The feature of the Pd
clusters stuck at the surface step was also described.