North-Holland. Amsterdam THERMAL STABILITY OF ATOMIC Ag / Au AND Au / Ag INTERFACES ON A Ru(OO1) SUBSTRATE

The thermally activated intermixing in Ag/Au and Au/Ag bilayers supported on a Ru(001) substrate has been studied using the PAX-technique (photoemission of adsorbed xenon). It is found that the Ag/Au interface (on Ru) is thermally more stable than the Au/Ag interface. In the first case Ag atoms do not penetrate into the Au underlayer at 275 K, while in the second case Au atoms do penetrate into the Ag underlayer at this temperature. These investigations also represent a very successful model study which may be carried over the other metal/metal combinations 1