Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
5424901 | Surface Science | 2008 | 6 Pages |
Because of the immense structural mismatch between a crystal and a quasicrystal, the aluminum-oxide domains that grow on the pentagonal surface of icosahedral Al-Pd-Mn at high temperatures are in the order of a few nm large. Here, we exploit the small lateral extension of the oxide domains to grow crystalline Al particles in the same size-region by vapor deposition on them. Low-energy-electron diffraction and secondary-electron imaging investigations show that the nanocrystals expose their (1Â 1Â 1) faces parallel to the pentagonal surface of the quasicrystal, while the in-plane orientation of the crystallites is random. Spot-profile analysis of the diffracted beams indicate that the Al nanocrystals grow in 3Â nm large domains up to a deposition thickness of 51Â monolayers.