Ag induced zero- and one-dimensional nanostructures on vicinal Si(111)

TL;DR

This paper reports on the formation of Ag-stabilized nanostructures on vicinal Si(111) surfaces, enabling the creation of ordered one-dimensional Ag quantum dot arrays with precise spacing, useful for nanotechnology applications.

Contribution

It introduces a novel Ag-induced reconstruction that stabilizes the Si(111) surface and templates the growth of uniform 1 nm Ag quantum dots in a regular array.

Findings

Stable Ag-induced step lattice on vicinal Si(111)

Ordered 1 nm Ag quantum dot arrays with 1.5 nm spacing

Prevention of step bunching by Si(111)-(3x1)-Ag reconstruction

Abstract

The formation of a Ag stabilized regular step lattice on vicinal Si(111) miscut towards [11-2] is reported. The step bunching characteristic of the clean surface is prevented by a single-domain Si(111)-(3x1)-Ag reconstruction. The nanostructured surface is used as a template for growing one-dimensional arrays of 1 nm sized Ag quantum dots with a preferential spacing of 1.5 nm along the rows.