Figure 1.

Electron beam-induced surface activation (EBISA) and the secondary growth process. The pristine (110) surface of a TiO₂ (rutile) crystal (a) is exposed to a focused 15 keV electron beam (b), leading to the localized release of oxygen via electron-stimulated desorption processes. The activated surface mediates the dissociation of Fe(CO)₅ molecules (c) into volatile CO molecules and a primary deposit of iron atoms (d). Further supply of Fe(CO)₅ increases the deposit size via an autocatalytic decomposition reaction (e). Under the given reaction conditions, the growth process produces very pure, cubic iron crystallites (f).