Studies of gold clusters in graphite pits via scanning tunneling microscopy

A gold source has been made, checked for contamination by Auger electron spectroscopy, and calibrated with Rutherford Backscattering. Dosing a highly oriented pyrolytic graphite surface with low-energy (on the order of 100 eV) argon ions should produce defects, which will lead to nanometer-sized pits upon oxidation. Gold deposition should produce clusters within these pits, enabling study by scanning tunneling microscopy