Preferential arrangement of uniform Mn nanodots on Si(111)-7 X 7 surface

• Published in: Journal of physics. D, Applied physics Vol. 39; no. 2; pp. 347 - 350
• Main Authors: Wang, De-yong, Chen, Li-jun, He, Wei, Zhan, Qing-feng, Cheng, Zhao-hua
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 21.01.2006
• ISSN: 0022-3727; 1361-6463
• DOI: 10.1088/0022-3727/39/2/016

Under proper growth conditions, ordered and uniform Mn nanodots were fabricated on a Si(111)-7 X 7 surface without the presence of a wetting layer. The Mn nanodots deposited onto the elevated substrates were observed to occupy preferentially on the faulted half unit cells (FHUCs) of the Si(111)-7 X 7 surface. This phenomenon implies that the Mn dots adsorbed on the FHUCs are more stable than those adsorbed on the unfaulted half unit cells (UFHUCs). Within the framework of quasi-equilibrium thermodynamics, the energy difference between adsorption on the UFHUCs and the FHUCs was estimated to be 0.05+/- 0.01 eV. The intrinsic attractive potential wells on the FHUCs effectively trap the outdiffusion of Mn atoms and consequently result in a preferential arrangement of islands with well-defined sizes.