Spontaneous alloying of a gold substrate with lead monolayers

Abstract

Auger electron spectroscopy and low energy electron diffraction have been used to study monolayers of lead deposited in ultrahigh vacuum on to the (100) face of gold. There form first simple overlayer structures leading to a dense compact monolayer arrangement. Evidence is then found for the formation of an alloy layer which appears spontaneously at room temperature after completion of the first dense monolayer. The proposed alloy structure has the composition AuPb₃.