Electrical conductance at initial stage in epitaxial growth of Pb on modified Si(111) surface

TL;DR

This study investigates how the electrical conductance evolves during the initial stages of epitaxial Pb growth on modified Si(111) surfaces, revealing substrate influence and correlating conductance oscillations with RHEED data.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the initial conductance behavior during epitaxial growth on modified silicon surfaces, linking experimental observations with theoretical models.

Findings

Conductance oscillations correlate with RHEED intensity oscillations.

Substrate modifications significantly influence initial conductance behavior.

The conductance behavior aligns with the Trivedi and Aschcroft theoretical model.

Abstract

The electrical conductance and RHEED intensities as a function of the coverage have been measured during Pb depositions at 105 K on Si(111)-(6x6)Au with up to 4.2 ML of annealed Pb. The experiments show the strong influence of used substrates on the behavior of the conductance during the epitaxy of Pb atoms, especially for very initial stage of growth. Oscillations of the conductance during the layer-by-layer growth are correlated with RHEED intensity oscillations. The analysis of the conductance behavior is made according to the theory described by Trivedi and Aschcroft (Phys.Rev.B 38,12298 (1988)).