Straight sections of step edges on a NiAl(110) curved single crystal surface used to calculate an approximation of step formation energy

• Published in: Surface science 2024-11, Vol.749, p.122545, Article 122545
• Main Authors: Piñeiros-Bastidas, Jessika M., Auras, Sabine V., Juurlink, Ludo B.F.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Curved single crystal; Image analysis; NiAl; Step formation energy approximation; STM; Terrace width
• ISSN: 0039-6028
• DOI: 10.1016/j.susc.2024.122545

Curved crystals may feature a smooth transition between different vicinal surfaces. Using one curved single crystal to study different vicinal surfaces requires less experimental time than using several single flat crystals. Here, we study step distributions on the (110) plane of a curved NiAl single-crystal surface, which consists of alternating Ni and Al atom rows. We use scanning tunneling microscopy under UHV conditions at room temperature and our home-built Python-based analysis script to obtain statistical information on kink and straight sections along step-edge distributions from STM images. We perform this analysis mainly to study this single crystal’s kink distributions and step termination We propose a new method to estimate the step formation energy based on step edge analysis and statistical mechanics. With this method, we find an approximation of the step formation energy for NiAl(110). [Display omitted] •We study step distributions on a curved NiAl (110)[001] single crystal.•We propose a new method to estimate the step formation energy based on step edge analysis and statistical mechanics.•An approximation for the step formation energy for NiAl (110)[001] has been calculated.•The analysis on step distributions suggests that Ni and Al terminate terraces in identical manners.