Adsorption and dynamics of Si atoms at the monolayer Pb/Si(111) surface

TL;DR

This study investigates the adsorption, diffusion, and aggregation of Si atoms on a Pb/Si(111) surface at low temperatures using STM, revealing detailed atomic behaviors and symmetry-breaking evidence relevant for epitaxial growth.

Contribution

It provides new insights into Si atom dynamics and symmetry-breaking on Pb/Si(111), advancing understanding of initial nucleation and growth mechanisms.

Findings

Si atoms bind to specific on-top sites T1A and T1B

Si atoms switch sites and hop along trimers with temperature

Aggregation into clusters occurs above 170 K

Abstract

In this work, we studied the adsorption behavior of deposited Si atoms along with their diffusion and other dynamic processes on a Pb monolayer-covered Si(111) surface from 125-230 K using a variable-temperature scanning tunneling microscope (STM). The Pb-covered Si(111) surface form a low-symmetry row-like structure in this temperature range and the Si atoms bind favorably to two specific on-top sites (T1A and T1B) on the trimer row after deposition at the sample temperature of 125 K. The Si atoms were immobile at low temperatures and started to switch between the two neighboring T1A and T1B sites within the same trimer when the temperature was raised to 150 K. When the temperature was raised above 160 K, the adsorbed Si atoms could hop to other trimers along the same trimer row. Below 170 K, short hops to adjacent trimers dominated, but long hops dominated at temperatures above 170 K. The activation energy and prefactor for the Si atoms diffusion were derived through analysis of continuous-time imaging at temperatures from 160-174 K. In addition, irreversible aggregation of single Si atoms into Si clusters started to occur at the phase boundaries or defective sites at temperatures above 170 K. This study provides crucial information for understanding the very initial stage of nucleation and growth behavior of epitaxial Si layers on a Pb-covered Si(111) surface. In addition, our study provides strong evidence for breaking in the mirror symmetry in the Pb-covered structure, which has implication for the atomic model of this controversial structure.