Metal adatom induced corrugation of Cu(001)

Abstract

We report the discovery of a metal adatom induced corrugation of Cu(001) as probed by atom beam scattering (ABS). At Pb or Bi coverages of 0.05 (fraction of Cu layer), and while a (1×1) LEED pattern is still observed, the ABS diffraction pattern from uncovered Cu(001) areas has changed considerably from that of clean Cu(001). We show that these uncovered areas have become up to ten times more corrugated than the clean Cu(001). We performed several carefully designed experiments to test whether our data could be interpreted as a result of scattering from adsorbate islands or from a lattice of randomly occupied sites. Instead, we ascribe the nature of this metal adatom induced corrugation to the redistribution of the Cu(001) surface charge density due to the adsorption of Pb or Bi atoms. No effect is seen following adsorption of weakly chemisorbed adatoms, such as Hg. A model consistent with all our observations is presented.