Abstract
Deformation of a tungsten tip 500 to 1000 nm in radius subjected to heating in an electric field is studied using field-emission microscopy and continuous-mode field-desorption microscopy. Measurements are performed immediately after the thermal field treatment without any smoothing of the tip by either heating or field evaporation. The edges of the tip (which is shaped into a polyhedron) are found to consist of monatomic steps about 1 nm wide and about 100 nm long. Microscopic protrusions about 10 nm in size are shaped like pyramids or wedges with single-atom apexes or monatomic edges and facets that are a continuation of the facets of the reconstructed tip or an outgrowth on which the protrusions are situated. The outgrowths are shaped like stepped truncated pyramids with monatomic edges. The observed phenomena are explained in terms of competing processes of surface diffusion, crystal growth in an electric field, and field evaporation.
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Translated from Fizika Tverdogo Tela, Vol. 47, No. 11, 2005, pp. 2091–2096.
Original Russian Text Copyright © 2005 by Pavlov.
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Pavlov, V.G. Field-desorption microscopy study of the deformation of a tungsten tip subjected to thermal treatment in an electric field. Phys. Solid State 47, 2180–2185 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1134/1.2131165
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/1.2131165