Self-organized growth of nanopucks on Pb quantum islands

Electronic Moirè patterns found on lead (Pb) quantum islands can serve as a template to grow self-organized cluster (nanopucks) arrays of various materials. These patterns can be divided into fcc- and hcp-stacked areas, which exhibit different binding strengths to the deposited adatoms. For Ag adatoms, the binding energy can differ substantially and the confined nucleation thus occurs in the fcc sites. Both the size distribution and spatial arrangement of the Ag nanopucks are analyzed and found to be commensurate with the characteristics of the template island, which exhibits a bilayer oscillatory behavior.