Structural Aspect of Formation of a Nanosystem of In/In$_{4}$Se$_{3}$ (100)

Abstract

Self-assembled indium deposition-induced nanostructures are obtained on the UHV cleaved (100) surface of In 4 Se 3 layered semiconductor crystals. The small indium-deposition rates and short deposition times are chosen to study growth orientation and origin of nanostructures observed by scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) on the (100) surface of In 4 Se 3 after indium deposition. The shape of these nanostructures strictly depends on the overstoichiometric indium concentration level in the melt during the crystal growth varying from 3D islands for low concentration to elongated shapes, i.e., nanowires, in the case of highly-indium-doped crystals. High-resolution STM study determines the self-assembled quasi-periodical nanowires' growth along c-axis of (100)In 4 Se 3 substrate. The spatially resolved scanning tunnelling spectroscopy (STS) study revealed metallic nature of the surface of nanostructures grown on the semiconductor substrate. The growth mechanism of indium-deposited nanostructures is considered to be powered by anisotropic striated lattice structure of In 4 Se 3 (100) surface with indium nuclei