Self-Organized Nanotemplating on Misfit Dislocation Networks Investigated by Scanning Tunneling Microscopy

KEY WORDS self-assembly; STM; strained metallic interfaces; ultrathin films; misfit dislocation network ABSTRACT Self-ordering growth of nanoarrays on strained metallic interfaces is an attractive option for preparing highly ordered nanotemplates. The great potential of this natural templating approach is that symmetry, feature sizes, and density are predicted to depend on the interfacial stress in these strained layers, which can be adjusted by changing the substrate-thin film composi-tion, temperature, and adlayer coverage. This bottom-up approach of growing nanostructured two-dimensional ordered arrays of clusters on the misfit dislocation networks of strained metallic thin films and surfaces requires a detailed understanding of the nucleation and film–adsorbate interac-tion processes. Here we show how high resolution, large scale, variable temperature scanning tun-neling microscopy imaging can improve our understanding of these self-assembly processes