Incoherent Ag islands growth on Ni(100)

Growth of two-dimensional superstructure and island morphologies of silver atoms evaporated on a nickel (100) surface are studied by scanning tunneling microscopy. Near-equilibrium islands form at moderate annealing temperature (lower than 500 K) and present two kinds of morphologies. While they share a common monolayer c(2×8) superstructure, two distinct populations of islands coexist: rounded islands grown on the surface and spindle-shaped islands grown inside the Ni surface. The latter present a clear saturation of their density with increasing coverage. These shapes are mostly dominated by boundary energies as confirmed by a simple two-dimensional Wulff model whose parameters are derived using molecular statics simulations. Further annealing to 700 K leads to long Ag strips decorating the Ni step edges.