The role of charge-induced defects in the growth of gold on an alkali halide surface

Gold on KBr, a prototypical system for studies of metal on insulator growth, is investigated by noncontact atomic force microscopy. It is shown that charge emitted during deposition results in the generation of surface defects via charge-induced desorption. Moreover, the defect and gold nanoparticle number densities follow a highly similar temperature dependence, suggesting that the gold growth is dominated by nucleation at the defects. The defects created at elevated temperatures are monolayer-deep rectangular pits, while those created at room temperature have an irregular structure.