Role of surface defects in room-temperature growth of metals on Si(100)2 × 1

Abstract

Nucleation and formation of silver islands on the Si(100)2×1 surface was for the first time studied by scanning tunneling microscopy directly during deposition. Crucial role of C-type defects on growth has been observed. Rapidly diffusing Ag atoms nucleate on these defects and during island evolution the defects represent stable terminations of Ag atomic chains.

Identification of Tetramers in Silver Films Grown on the Si(001) Surface at Room Temperature

“…The growth of metal films on silicon is of interest in the fabrication of miniaturized semiconductor devices, including integrated circuits, microelectronics, and optoelectronics. − Among the numerous systems in this field, the growth of Ag films on silicon has been heavily examined, − because it serves as a prototype model for an abrupt metal/semiconductor interface. Much of this work has been focused on the Ag/Si(111) system, with the √3 × √3 surface reconstruction having been studied in particular detail. − Much less work has been done for Ag on the more technologically significant Si(001) surface.…”

“…RT growth of Ag on Si(001) follows the Stranski–Krastanov mode. ,, Adsorbed Ag atoms aggregate to form a film up to one full monolayer, beyond which three-dimensional Ag islands are formed. What remains unclear, however, is the atomic structure of the initial Ag monolayer because previous scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) experiments at RT were often obscured by the high mobility of silver on Si(001). ,, At RT, this film appears to have either a 2 × 1 or 2 × 2 structure with a high degree of disorder. Various models ,,, have been proposed where both the 2 × 1 and 2 × 2 structures are all based on a Ag dimer structure.…”

Self-organisation of inorganic elements on Si(001) mediated by pre-adsorbed organic molecules

“…1,2 It should be noted, however, that for the Ag adatoms, despite the enhanced local chemical activity of the substrate, the ad-atom adsorption geometries do not provide any new active sites for subsequent ad-atom adsorption and the formation of the 1D ad-atomic chain will not occur. 12 Therefore in the subsequent sections, the interaction of the ad-atoms with the substrate in the vicinity of the pre-adsorbed molecule will be analyzed further for the Al and Pb ad-atoms only.…”

“…Interactions of metallic elements with semiconductor surfaces have been of great fundamental and practical interest for decades. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] Recent, renewed interest in interactions of organic molecules with semiconductor surfaces, especially Si(001), is of enormous importance in attempts to develop functional, atomic-molecular-scale systems for future nano-scaled technologies. [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]42 In this paper we study the reaction mechanism of an isolated organic molecule with Si(001) and a subsequent reaction with adsorbed metallic elements.…”

“…To estimate the kinetics effects on the diffusing ad-atoms on the modified Si(001) surface we have calculated the activation energies (barriers) for selected diffusion pathways using the Nudged Elastic Band (NEB) method 44 implemented in the Fireball code. The activation energies were used to calculate the inverse of the Arrhenius rate [combined with a typical for the Si(001) surface attempt frequency (B10 12 Hz) and the temperature at which the experimental data were collected (room temperature, T = 300 K)], to obtain the time scale of the corresponding diffusion processes.…”