Vicinal surfaces

Abstract

This special section contains a selection of articles on several different aspects of the physicsand chemistry of vicinal surfaces. The aim is not to provide a review of all the aspects ofthe field, but rather to present a collection of articles concerning problems that have deservedattention during the last few years. Vicinal surfaces have been the subject of theoretical andexperimental work for several reasons, such as their catalytic activity or the fact that they arenatural templates for the epitaxial growth of a different material. In principle, the selection ofthe miscut angle allows us to choose the lateral periodicity at the surface, because the miscutangle of a vicinal surface determines the average spacing between steps. Ideally, we shouldobtain a perfect staircase with the homogenous step spacing determined by the miscut angle.In practice, many different factors conspire to make real vicinal surfaces much more complexthan expected, since both step bunching and/or meandering along the steps are favoured fromthe energetic point of view.The contribution by Desjonqueres, Spanjaard and co-workers studies the case of transitionand noble metal vicinals. Rahman and co-workers consider also the case of vicinal fcc metals,and study the structural relaxations and vibrational dynamics and thermodynamics of thesesystems. Both kinds of instabilities (step bunching and step meandering) are studied by Ernstand co-workers for Cu homoepitaxy. An extreme case of step bunching is faceting, wherecrystalline faces different from the nominal orientation are formed. The paper by Sudoh andIwasaki considers the case of Si(113), and the role of step–step interactions in the surfacefaceting. Minoda's contribution studies the role of external forces (DC heating in this case) inthe structure of vicinal Si(111). Ortega and co-workers summarize how the surface electronicstructure is affected by the step periodicity in the case of Cu(111) and Au(111) vicinals, animportant property for the further growth of a different material. They also analyse how thesurface electronic structure is modified by a superperiodicity in the nanoscale range.The topic of epitaxial growth on vicinal surfaces is studied in the contribution by KuhnkeandKern, who analyse the role of vicinal metal surfaces as nanotemplates for the growth of lowdimensional systems. Several real systems of this kind are also reported in the last papers ofthe section. Speller and co-workers study the properties of Ag nanostripes deposited on vicinalCu(111). Rousset and co-workers investigate the role of the step structure in the properties ofvicinal Au(111), and also its relevance for the further growth of Co.To conclude, I would like to thank all the authors of this special section for theircontributions.