Metal nanoparticles can display a unique behavior when deposited on substrates with a significantly lower surface energy. Co nanoparticles in the 10 nm size regime burrow into clean Cu(100) and Ag(100) substrates when deposited at 600 K and also assume the substrate orientation. Deposition at room temperature fails to show either burrowing or reorientation. Crucial in understanding these results are the capillary forces and surface tension associated with a nanoparticle: they must be high enough to drive atoms away from underneath the cluster.

• Received 16 February 1999

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.83.1163