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Phys. Rev. B 77, 195425 (2008) [10 pages]

Growth of multilayer ice films and the formation of cubic ice imaged with STM

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Konrad Thürmer and Norman C. Bartelt
Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, California 94550, USA

Received 31 December 2007; revised 13 March 2008; published 16 May 2008

Ice films as many as 30 molecular layers thick can be imaged with scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) when negative sample biases <−6(±1) V and subpicoamp tunneling currents are used. We observe that water deposited onto Pt(111) below 120 K forms amorphous films, whereas metastable cubic ice appears between 120 and 150 K. To determine the mechanisms of ice growth, we investigate the thickness-dependent film morphology. Cubic ice emerges from screw dislocations in the crystalline ice film that are caused by the mismatch in the atomic Pt- step height and the ice-bilayer separation.

© 2008 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevB.77.195425
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevB.77.195425
PACS:
68.55.−a, 68.37.Ef