On the orientation relationships of decorating gold particles on alkali halides

Abstract

It is demonstrated that the step‐free terraces on the cleaved pure {001} faces of alkali halides contain “intrinsic active sites” being active both in the nucleation and in the development of the {111} orientation of deposits. Taking into account the existence of the intrinsic active sites and their sensitivity against contaminations a rather comprehensive description of the phenomena in the decoration and epitaxy experiments (e.g. coexistence of {111} and {001} orientations) is given.