Initial epitaxial growth of (111) Au/(111) Cu and (111) Cu/(111) Au

The room temperature modes of growth of Au/(111) Cu and Cu/(111) Au are described. For the former growth mode initial deposits (2.4 Å) of gold on copper form smooth flat islands delineated by coincidence lattice misfit dislocations. For 6.0 Å of gold deposit, both thick and thin gold areas were observed with almost complete substrate coverage. For a 10 Å deposit, surface coverage was complete. Strain measurements and dislocation densities obtained on the (111) Au/(111) Cu films suggest the presence of two separate misfit dislocation networks at the interface. The coincidence lattice networks were large enough for transmission electron microscopy observation but contributed little to total overlayer strain. The (van der Merwe) natural lattice misfit dislocations were too closely spaced for direct observation but their presence was inferred because of the strain measurements. The initial epitaxy of Cu/(111) Au was similar to the Stranski-Krastanov model: the initial monolayer of copper (also delineated by coincidence misfit dislocations) grew smoothly on the gold; additional copper formed essentially stress-free “nuclei” on top of the initial copper layer.     

High-quality epitaxial Bi(111) films on Si(111) by isochronal annealing

Bi(111) films grown on Si(111) at room temperature show a significantly higher roughness compared to Bi films grown on Si(100) utilizing a kinetic pathway based on a low-temperature process. Isochronal annealing steps of 3 min duration each with temperatures up to 200 °C cause a relaxation of the Bi films' lattice parameter toward the Bi bulk value and yield an atomically flat Bi surface. Driving force for the relaxation and surface reordering is the magic mismatch of 11 Bi atoms to 13 Si atoms that emerges at annealing temperatures above 150 °C and reduces the remaining strain to less than 0.2%.     

Diffusion processes in the Au(111)/Ag(111) thin film system

The diffusion mechanisms of silver through Au(111) films 360 Å thick for different temperatures and heating times are studied. By means of quantitative Auger electron spectroscopy and in-depth profiling techniques the composition of the first monolayer and the composition profiles of diffused silver against time and heating temperature are determined. After elimination of instrumental effects the bulk silver interdiffusion coefficients for different temperatures and the activation energy of diffusion are obtained. The extrapolation stages allows the time required for the diffused onto the surface in the first diffusion stages allows the time required for the first appearance to be determined. Comparison with two standard expressions gives the corresponding grain-boundary diffusion coefficients and the activation energy. A numerical formalism, which includes the variation of composition at the interface but makes no allowance for grain boundary-grain diffusion, is tested esing the calculated coefficients. The agreement between the experimental results and the theoretical surface compositions is satisfactory within the limitations of the proposed model.     

Contents of Volume 111 (2001)

Volume Contents

Contents of Volume 111 (2001)     

Characterization of bimetallic Au-Pt(111) surfaces

Structural and electronic properties of ultrathin Au films deposited on Pt(111) and annealed at different temperatures have been studied by ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS), photoemission of adsorbed xenon (PAX) and low energy electron diffraction (LEED). The LEED measurements indicate an initial pseudomorphic growth of the Au films. The UPS and PAX experiments show a strong temperature dependence of the surface morphology. The surface covered with Au at 150 K is quite rough but smoothens significantly above room temperature. At a temperature of 750 K intermixing and the formation of an Au-Pt surface alloy start at the interface. The electronic properties of this surface alloy seem to be nearly independent from the originally deposited Au amount in the investigated range of 1-10 monolayers. The removal of Au from the surface regions has also been verified by scanning tunneling microscopy. Adsorption experiments with CO as a titration agent show a significantly lower affinity of the Au-Pt surface alloy in comparison with the clean Pt surface.     

Self-assembly of rubrene on Cu(111)

We performed an ultra-high vacuum scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) investigation of the self-assembly of rubrene at room temperature on Cu(111), a metal surface with threefold symmetry. Rubrene self-assembles into two different structures called row and trimer. Both are different than the structures already observed on Cu(110) and Cu(100). Row and trimer structures have comparable molecular packing densities and are equally distributed across the surface. In the row structure the molecules are oriented with their backbone along the same high symmetry directions of the surface: [[Formula: see text]], [[Formula: see text]] or [[Formula: see text]]. The trimer structure is composed of units of three rubrene molecules, oriented along the high symmetry surface directions. These units are chiral, as revealed by height profile measurements by STM, and self-assemble in domains containing only one type of enantiomer.     

Co nanoislands on Au(111) and Cu(111) surfaces studied by scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy

Co nanoislands on the Au(111) and Cu(111) surfaces have been studied by scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy. The experimental results showed that Co nanoislands prefer to aggregate at the step edge and dislocation sites on the reconstructed Au(111) surface and at the step edge on the Cu(111) surface, respectively. In addition, based on dZ/dV-V spectra, in both the Co/Au(111) and the Co/Cu(111) systems, Gundlach oscillation was observed. From the peak shift of dZ/dV-V spectra between Co nanoisland and substrate surface, we can quantitatively obtain that the constant energy separation is -0.13 +/- 0.01 eV for the Co/Au(111) system, and 0.41 +/- 0.02 eV for the Co/Cu(111) system, respectively. These values indicate the work function difference between Co nanoisland and these surfaces.     

Optical properties of magic clusters formed in In/Si(111) and Cr/Si(111) systems

The optical properties of ultrasmall ordered indium and chromium quantum dots of identical size (magic clusters) in the In/Si(111) and Cr/Si(111) systems have been studied by differential reflection spectroscopy (DRS). Using the DRS data, the character of the magic clusters of each type has been elucidated. It is established that the magic clusters of chromium formed in the Cr/Si(111) system represent nanocrystals of chromium silicide (Cr/Si(111) is a reactive system featuring chemical interaction between the metal and the silicon substrate, which leads to silicide formation). The magic clusters of indium formed in the nonreactive In/Si(111) system represent a surface phase.     

The annealing of misfit dislocations in the (111) Cu/(111) Cu2O system

Recent work on the early stages of the epitaxial oxidation of (111) Cu at 350 °C and in oxygen pressures between 10^-7 and 10^-4 Torr has resulted in the determination of the growth modes that occur and the accompanying elastic strains. Initially a hexagonal 3 × 3 oxide superlattice is formed which continues to grow by a layer growth mechanism up to a theoretically estimated thickness of approximately five monomolecular layers. Subsequent oxidation occurs by the formation of lamellar islands containing misfit dislocations which reduce the coincidence lattice misfit strain. In the present work these (111) Cu/(111) Cu₂O bilayers were annealed and examined in situ in the transmission electron microscope in the temperature range 25–350 °C. The misfit dislocation density decreased as the temperature was increased. The annealing effects are complex and interdiffusion phenomena can be observed even at 60 °C.     

Ag films formed simultaneously on (111) and (100) NaCl

The ranges of epitaxial deposition have been explored for Ag evaporated simultaneously under high vacuum onto three NaCl substrate surfaces designated (111), (100)_E and (100)_c. The first substrate consisted of a thin (111)-oriented monocrystalline NaCl film deposited onto air-cleaved mica. The substrate designated (100)_E consisted of a thin (100)-oriented monocrystalline NaCl film evaporated onto air-cleaved NaCl, and that designated (100)_c consisted of air- cleaved NaCl. The occurrence of monocrystalline and polycrystalline films and their microstructure were determined by transmission electron microscopy and diffraction as a function of deposition rare R and substrate temperature T. The results are presented on 1n R versus$\text{1}\text{T}$ plots. Activation energies for the transition from a low temperature polycrystalline region to a higher temperature monocrystalline region were determined as approximately 0.8 and 1.0 eV respectively for (111) and (100)_E NaCl substrates. No such transition was found in the case of (100)_c substrates. In the case of (100)_E substrates a steep high temperature demarcation line (activation energy 3.9 eV) was found to separate the monocrystalline region from a high temperature polycrystalline region. The latter region was identified with the coalescence stage of film growth. These results agree with earlier reports suggesting that the coalescence stage rather than the nucleation stage is pre-eminent in determining the occurrence of epitaxy.     

Cu films formed simultaneously on (111) and (100) NaCl

Copper films were deposited simultaneously in high vacuum on three different monocrystalline NaCl substrates: evaporated (111) NaCl on mica, evaporated (100) NaCl and air-cleaved (100) NaCl. The occurence and microstructure of monocrystalline or polycrystalline copper films were determined by transmission electron microscopy and diffraction as a function of deposition rate R and substrate temperature T. When log R was plotted against 1/T, straight lines could be drawn separating the monocrystalline and the polycrystalline regions. Activation energies for the polycrystalline to monocrystalline transition of Cu films were calculated to be 1.48, 1.22 and 1.27 eV for the (111), evaporated (100) and air-cleaved (100) NaCl substrates respectively. It is shown that these results can be related to the atomistic theory of nucleation by Walton. Moreover, the results indicate that both the binding energy U between a single adatom and a growing oriented cluster and the atomic adsorption energy Q_ad on the substrate surface are proportional to the planar atom densities in the growing cluster and in the substrate surface respectively. It is further shown that while the activation energies for Cu films formed on the two (100) substrate surfaces are about the same, the actual epitaxial temperatures for the same R are significantly different.     

Structural coherency of graphene on Ir(111)

Low-pressure chemical vapor deposition allows one to grow high structural quality monolayer graphene on Ir(111). Using scanning tunneling microscopy, we show that graphene prepared this way exhibits remarkably large-scale continuity of its carbon rows over terraces and step edges. The graphene layer contains only a very low density of defects. These are zero-dimensional defects, edge dislocation cores consisting of heptagon-pentagon pairs of carbon atom rings, which we relate to small-angle in-plane tilt boundaries in the graphene. We quantitatively examined the bending of graphene across Ir step edges. The corresponding radius of curvature compares to typical radii of thin single-wall carbon nanotubes.     

Si基GaN紫外光探测器

报道了以Si(111)为衬底的GaN光导型紫钙探测器的制备及其光电流性质,探测器的光谱响应表明,这种GaN探测器在紫外波段250－360nm有近于平坦的光电流响应,36nm附近陡峭的截止边,在357nm波长处,测得5V偏压下的响应度高达6．9A／W。响应度随外加偏压的增加而增加,5V时达到饱和,通过拟合光电流响应随入射光调制频率的变化关系,得到GaN探测器的响应时间为4．8ms。     

Formation of (001)-textured grain in (111) polycrystalline silicon film

We report the formation of (001)-textured gains in (111) polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) by Ni-mediated crystallization of amorphous silicon (a-Si) using a cap layer (MICC). The a-Si precursor deposited by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition was dehydrogenated at 550 °C and then crystallized at 580 °C. The (001)-textured grains appear in the network of (111) poly-Si of ∼ 100 μm grains, which was confirmed by the analysis of electron back-scattered diffraction. From the kinetic study of the grain growth, it is found that the nucleation rate of (001) nuclei is higher than that of (111) ones, but the (111) grains grow faster than that of (001) grains.     

Gas-source molecular beam epitaxy of Si(111) on Si(110) substrates by insertion of 3C-SiC(111) interlayer for hybrid orientation technology

A method to realize a novel hybrid orientations of Si surfaces, Si(111) on Si(110), has been developed by use of a Si(111)/3C-SiC(111)/Si(110) trilayer structure. This technology allows us to use the Si(111) portion for the n-type and the Si(110) portion for the p-type channels, providing a solution to the current drive imbalance between the two channels confronted in Si(100)-based complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology. The central idea is to use a rotated heteroepitaxy of 3C-SiC(111) on Si(110) substrate, which occurs when a 3C-SiC film is grown under certain growth conditions. Monomethylsilane (SiH₃-CH₃) gas-source molecular beam epitaxy (GSMBE) is used for this 3C-SiC interlayer formation while disilane (Si₂H₆) is used for the top Si(111) layer formation. Though the film quality of the Si epilayer leaves a lot of room for betterment, the present results may suffice to prove its potential as a new technology to be used in the next generation CMOS devices.     

Anisotropic electric conductivity of In-Si(111) surface phases

The dependence of the electric conductivity of Si(111)√3 × √3-In and Si(111)4 × 1-In surface phases on the substrate surface orientation has been studied using low-energy electron diffraction, scanning tunneling microscopy, and four-point probe conductivity measurements. It is established that the directions of maximum conductivity in the Si(111)√3 × √3-In superlattice coincide with the directions of the maximum number density of In atoms, and in the Si(111)4 × 1-ln superlattice, with the directions of one-dimensional In atomic chains.     

Dynamics of dysprosium silicide nanostructures on Si(001) and (111) surfaces

The growth and coarsening dynamics of dysprosium silicide nanostructures are observed in real-time using photoelectron emission microscopy. The annealing of a thin Dy film to temperatures in the range of 700–1050 °C results in the formation of epitaxial rectangular silicide islands and nanowires on Si(001) and triangular and hexagonal silicide islands on Si(111). During continuous annealing, individual islands are observed to coarsen via Ostwald ripening at different rates as a consequence of local variations in the size and relative location of the surrounding islands on the surface. A subsequent deposition of Dy onto the Si(001) surface at 1050 °C leads to the growth of the preexisting islands and to the formation of silicide nanowires at temperatures above where nanowire growth typically occurs. Immediately after the deposition is terminated, the nanowires begin to decay from the ends, apparently transferring atoms to the more stable rectangular islands. On Si(111), a low continuous flux of Dy at 1050 °C leads to the growth of kinked and jagged island structures, which ultimately form into nearly equilateral triangular shapes.