Periodical Distribution of Discrete Gold Islands in Electrodeposition

Abstract

Discrete gold islands formed in electrodeposition have been investigated using an island pair distribution function (IDF) as the analogy of the atomic pair distribution function (PDF) and the Fourier image analysis. An oscillatory plot in the IDF, the two halo and streak patterns in the Fourier-transformed image indicate that the gold islands have a weak periodical structure. The Monte Carlo simulation for the distribution of gold islands with no interplay or the repulsive Coulomb force well explains the origin of the periodical structure.