Study of Single Micro-Crystals of Gold by a Three-Stage Electron Microscope

Abstract

When a dilute auric chloride solution is reduced by a saturated salicylic acid solution, thin crystals of gold can be obtained whose shapes are mainly triangle or hexagon and whose magnitude is about 8 microns in diameter. They have peculiar but systematic striped patterns on the surfaces. The electron micro-diffraction method was applied to these crystals, and by tracing the spots of the cross grating patterns under a three-stage electron microscope, the indices of the striped patterns were determined from the dark field image. The orientation of the zone axes in the crystal, and the direction of the warping as well as the radius of the curvature the crystal were also determined.