ACTA

The Structure of the (100) Surface of Ag-In-Gd 1/1 Approximant

S.S. Hars^a, H.R. Sharma^a, J.A. Smerdon^a, T.P. Yadav^a, R. Tamura^b, M. Shimoda^c and R. McGrath^a
^aSurface Science Research Centre and Department of Physics, The University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3BX, UK
^bDepartment of Materials Science and Technology, Tokyo University of Science, Noda, Japan
^cNational Institute for Materials Science, Sengen, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0047, Japan

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Scanning tunneling microscopy is employed to characterise the structure and morphology of the (100) surface of the Ag-In-Gd 1/1 approximant. The surface prepared by the usual method of sputter-annealing produces step-terrace structure. Observed step heights are consistent with the lattice constant of the bulk. Scanning tunneling microscopy on terraces reveals cluster-like protrusions arranged with a square unit cell as expected from the bulk. It has not been possible to assign the terraces to the specific bulk planes because of lack of atomic resolution on terraces.

DOI: 10.12693/APhysPolA.126.479
PACS numbers: 61.44.Br, 68.35.Bs, 68.37.Ef, 71.23.Ft