Stabilization of silicon honeycomb chains by trivalent adsorbates

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that trivalent Gd adsorbates can stabilize silicon honeycomb chains, expanding the understanding of surface reconstructions and showing their universality across different adsorbate valencies.

Contribution

It reveals that trivalent adsorbates like Gd can stabilize silicon honeycomb chains, previously known only with monovalent and divalent adsorbates.

Findings

Gd chains form honeycomb chain-channel structures on Si(111)

Gd stabilizes silicon honeycomb chains similar to other adsorbates

Silicon honeycomb chains are a universal feature in surface reconstructions

Abstract

The atomic structure of self-assembled quasi-one-dimensional Gd chains on Si(111) has been investigated by low-energy electron diffraction and scanning tunneling microscopy. Based on comparison between Gd and Ca chains we show that this Gd induced surface reconstruction belongs to the class of honeycomb chain-channel structures. This clearly demonstrates that, besides monovalent and divalent adsorbates, also trivalent adsorbates such as Gd stabilize silicon honeycomb chains. Consequently silicon honeycomb chains emerge as an universal building block in adsorbate induced silicon surface reconstructions.