Ab initio study of indium clusters on the Ge(5 × 5) wetting layer of Si(111)‐7 × 7

Abstract

An ab initio study of In adsorbed on the Ge(111)‐5 × 5 wetting layer, which forms on top of a Si(111)‐7 × 7 substrate, is reported. A recent experiment showed that small In clusters form on this surface with some regularity but their exact size and structure are still unknown. Results are presented of a detailed investigation of the structural and electronic properties of a single adsorbed In atom and small candidate In clusters, carried out using density‐functional calculations. Using density difference plots and population analysis, the mechanisms of bonding for different In structures are explained. Comparison of total energies shows that for a single In atom the faulted half cell is marginally preferred to the unfaulted half, and little tendency for clustering of In is found for low coverages. Both of these conclusions seem to be at odds with the experimental results and possible explanations are discussed. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Stability, interaction and influence of domain boundaries in Ge/Si(111)-5 × 5

“…However, where two reconstruction domains meet one another that periodicity is disturbed. The experimental basis for this work is the domain boundaries on the Ge/Si(111)-5 × 5 surface [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] that can be grown in high densities through a process detailed in [6,19,20]. In this procedure 1-2 BL of Ge is deposited onto a clean Si(111)-7 × 7 surface held at room temperature and then annealed at ∼500 • C for 15 min.…”

“…In this paper, we explore the properties of boundaries in one of the systems mentioned above, namely Ge/Si(111)-5 × 5 [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. Using solid-phase epitaxy, it is possible to prepare atomically-ordered boundaries between 5 × 5 dimer-adatom-stacking-fault (DAS) domains.…”

Directed assembly of one-dimensional magic cluster arrays by domain boundaries

“…30 So scaling the reconstruction's unit cell dimensions does not trivially change the cluster spacing. 31 As mentioned above, the atomic steps on vicinal surfaces can serve as a template for directing the growth of 1D nanostructures. On semiconductor surfaces, an important breakthrough was the demonstration that vicinal offcuts could be used to generate regular step arrays with exceptional structural quality.…”