Structural Features of Boron-Doped Si（113） Surfaces Simulated by ab initio Calculations

Based on ab initio calculations, boron-doped Si（113） surfaces have been simulated and atomic structures of the surfaces have been proposed. It has been determined that surface features of empty and filled states that are separately localized at pentamers and adatoms indicates a low surface density of B atoms, while it is attributed to heavy doping of B atoms at the second layer that pentamers and adatoms are both present in an image of scanning tunnelling microscopy. B doping at the second layer should be balanced by adsorbed B or Si atoms beside the adatoms and inserted B interstitials below the adatoms.     

One-dimensional diffusion of vacancies on an Sr/Si(100)-c(2×4) surface

An Sr/Si(100)-c(2×4) surface is investigated by high-resolution scanning tunneling microscopy(STM) and scanning tunneling spectroscopy(STS).The semiconductor property of this surface is confirmed by STS.The STM images of this surface shows that it is bias-voltage dependent and an atomic resolution image can be obtained at an empty state under a bias voltage of 1.5 V.Furthermore,one-dimensional(1D) diffusion of vacancies can be found in the room-temperature STM images.Sr vacancies diffuse along the valley channels,which are constructed by silicon dimers in the surface.Weak interaction between Sr and silicon dimers,low metal coverage,surface vacancy,and energy of thermal fluctuation at room temperature all contribute to this 1D diffusion.     

Surface diffusion of Si,Ge and C adatoms on Si （001） substrate studied the molecular dynamics simulation

Depositions of Si, Ge and C atoms onto a preliminary Si (001) substrate at different temperatures are investigated by using the molecular dynamics method. The mechanism of atomic self-assembling occurring locally on the flat terraces between steps is suggested. Diffusion and arrangement patterns of adatoms at different temperatures are observed. At 900 K, the deposited atoms are more likely to form dimers in the perpendicular [110] direction due to the more favourable movement along the perpendicular [110] direction. C adatoms are more likely to break or reconstruct the dimers on the substrate surface and have larger diffusion distances than Ge and Si adatoms. Exchange between C adatoms and substrate atoms are obvious and the epitaxial thickness is small. Total potential energies of adatoms and substrate atoms involved in the simulation cell are computed. When a newly arrived adatom reaches the stable position, the potential energy of the system will decrease and the curves turns into a ladder-like shape. It is found that C adatoms can lead to more reduction of the system energy and the potential energy of the system will increase as temperature increases.     

The non-destructive threshold of the graphite surface by STM in the ultra-fast pulse mode

In this paper single ultra-fast voltage pulses are introduced to the Pt/Ir tip of a scanning tunnelling microscope (STM), and the non-destructive threshold of the graphite surface is studied systematically in a wide range of pulse durations (from 10$^{4}$ to 8\,ns). Considering the waveform distortion of the pulses at the tunnelling region, this paper gives the corrected threshold curve of pulse amplitude depending on pulse duration. A new explanation of threshold power has been suggested and fits the experimental results well.     

Formation of graphene on Ru（0001） surface

We report on the formation of a graphene monolayer on a Ru(0001) surface by annealing the Ru(0001) crystal. The samples are characterized by scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES). STM images show that the Moir\'{e} pattern is caused by the graphene layer mismatched with the underlying Ru(0001) surface and has an $N\times N$ superlattice. It is further found that the graphene monolayer on a Ru(0001) surface is very stable at high temperatures. Our results provide a simple and convenient method to produce a graphene monolayer on the Ru(0001) surface, which is used as a template for fabricating functional nanostructures needed in future nano devices and catalysis.     

Formation mechanism of Ge nanocrystals embedded in SiO2 studied by fluorescence x-ray absorption fine structure

This paper reports that the Ge nanocrystals embedded in SiO2 matrix are grown on Si（100） and quartz-glass substrates, and the formation mechanism is systematically studied by using fluorescence x-ray absorption fine structure （XAFS）. It is found that the formation of Ge nanocrystals strongly depends on the properties of substrate materials. In the as-prepared samples with Ge molar content of 60%, Ge atoms exist in amorphous Ge （about 36%） and GeO2 （about 24%） phases. At the annealing temperature of 1073 K, on the quartz-glass substrate Ge nanocrystals are generated from crystallization of amorphous Ge, rather than from the direct decomposition of GeO2 in the as-deposited sample. However, on the Si（100） substrate, the Ge nanocrystals are generated partly from crystallization of amorphous Ge, and partly from GeO2 phases through the permutation reaction with Si substrate. Quantitative analysis reveals that about 10% of GeO2 in the as-prepared sample are permuted with Si wafer to form Ge nanocrystals.     

Structural transformation of Ge dimers on Ge（001） surfaces induced by bias voltage

Scanning tunnelling microscopy is utilized to investigate the local bias voltage tunnelling dependent transformation between （2×1） and c（4×2） structures on Ge（001） surfaces, which is reversibly observed at room temperature and a critical bias voltage of -0.80 V. Similar transformation is also found on an epitaxial Ce islands but at a slightly different critical bias voltage of -1.00V. It is found that the interaction between the topmost atoms on the STM tip and the atoms of the dimers, and the pinning effect induced by Sb atoms, the nacancies or the epitaxial clusters, can drive the structural transformation at the critical bias voltage.     

IN SITU STM STUDY OF THERMAL ANNEALING OF Au THIN FILMS:AN INVESTIGATION ON DECAY OF NANOMETER Au CLUSTERS AND 2D ISLANDS

An in situ, ultrahigh vacuum scanning tunneling micrmcopy(UHV STM) study of thermal annealing of gold thin films is presented in this paper. The gold thin films was heated and annealed in the UHV chamber in the temperature range From room temperature to maximum of 300℃, while a consecutive STM imaging was performed on the surface of the gold films during the heating and annealing. The STM results showed that the surface corrugation changes became more apparent after the temperature increased above 100℃, whereas much smoothened surface and large Au (111) crystalline terrace(>200nm) formed at temperature of 160℃ of above. Betides the surface morphology change, our images clearly revealed the melting of multilayer gold clusters and shrinking of monolayer gold islands in a nanometer scale. It was shown that the decay of the gold clusters and islands constitute the microscopic processes contributing to the thermal activated surface morphology change. A classical theory of mass flow kinetics was adopted in analyzing the decay processes. The results showed that surface diffusion is the dominate mechanism in the thermal annealing of the gold thin films. This study presents the first microscopic investigation of thermal annealing processes of metal thin films observed by in situ and real-time STM.     

Fabrication and measurement of optical characterization of one dimensional photonic crystal with defect

Numerical calculations based on the transfer matrix method are carried out, and the results of band gap with resonance peaks are obtained. The electron beam lithography technology （EBL） and induction coupling plasma （ICP） etching are used to make the photonic crystal （PC） structures, and from several scanning electron microscope images, the PC structures are observed with features closing to the design. In order to create the tiny PC structures in the right places of the waveguide by the EBL technology at different time, some alignment markers are deposited on the chip, which are made of gold that deposited on titanium for its good adhesion to the underlying Si. An optical testing bed is designed for measurement of the optical characterization of PC structures. Through the analysis of the measured data, a △λ value of 0.8 nm is obtained and for the centre frequency of 1547 nm, a very high quality factor value of 1933 can be obtained. The 3-rim difference represents only a 0.2% error from the theoretical centre.     

Cu原子掺杂调控三聚氰胺在Au(111)表面自组装结构

The doping effect of Cu on the self-assembly film of melamine on an Au(111) surface has been investigated with scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). The evaporated Cu adatoms occupy the positions underneath the amino groups and change the hydrogen bonding pattern between the melamine molecules. Accordingly, the self-assembly structure has changed stepwise from a well-defined honeycomb into a track-like and then a triangular structure depending on the amount of Cu adatoms. The interaction between Cu adatom and melamine is moderate thus the Cu adatoms can be released upon mild heating to around 100℃. These findings are different from previous observations of either the coordination assembly or the physically trapped metal adatoms.     

Selective epitaxial growth of Ge nanodots with ultra-thin porous alumina membrane

We demonstrate that ultra-thin porous alumina membrane （PAM） is suitable for controlling of both size and site of Ge nanodots on Si substrates. Ge nanodots are grown on Si substrates with PAM as a template at different temperatures with molecular beam epitaxy （MBE） method. Ordered Ge nanodot arrays with uniform size and high density are obtained at 400 and 500 ℃. Spatial frequency spectrums transformed from scanning electron microscopy images through fast Fourier transform are utilized to analyze surface morphologies of Ge nanodots. The long-range well-ordered Ge nanodot arrays form a duplication of PAM at 400 ~C while the hexagonal packed Ge nanodot arrays are comolementarv with PAM at 500℃.     

Optical behavior of self-assembled high-density Ge nanoislands embedded in SiO2

The radio frequency magnetron sputtering method is used to prepare well-dispersed pyramidal-shaped Ge nanoislands embedded in amorphous SiO2 sublayers of various thicknesses. The estimated size and number density of Ge nanoislands in SiO2 sublayer thicknesses beyond 30 nm are approximately 15 nm and 1011 cm-2, respectively. Atomic force microscopy （AFM） reveals root mean square （RMS） roughness sensitivity as the SiO2 sublayer thickness varies from 30 to 40 nm. The formation of nanoislands with high aspect ratios is attributed to the higher rate of surface reactions between Ge adatoms and nucleated Ge islands than reactions associated with SiO2 and Ge. The Ge nanoisland polyorientation on SiO2 （50-nm thickness） is revealed by X-ray diffraction （XRD） patterns. Photoluminescence （PL） peaks of 2.9 and 1.65 eV observed at room temperature （RT） are attributed to the radiative recombination of electrons and holes from the Ge nanoislands/SiO2 and Si02/Si interfaces, respectively. The mean island sizes are determined by fitting the experimental Raman profile to two models, namely, the phonon confinement model and the size distribution combined with phonon confinement model. The latter model yields the best fit to the experimental data. We confirm that SiO2 matrix thickness variations play a significant role in the formation of Ge nanoislands mediated via the minimization of interfacial and strain energies. OCIS codes： 250.5230, 170.5660.     

Adsorption of L-Alanine on Cu（111） Studied by Scanning Tunnelling Microscopy

The adsorption of L-alanine on Cu（111） surface is studied by means of scanning tunnelling microscopy under ultra-high vacuum conditions. The results show that the adsorbates are chemisorbed on the surface, and can form a two-dimensional gas phase, chain phase and solid phase, depending on deposition rate and amount. The adsorbed molecules can be imaged as individual protrusions and parallel chains in gas and chain phases respectively. It is also found that alanine can form （2 × 2） superstructure on Cu（111） and copper step facet to （110） directions in solid phase. On the basis of our scanning tunnelling microscopic images, a model is proposed for the Cu（111）（2 ×2）-alanine superstructure. In the model, we point out the close link between （110）-direction hydrogen bond chains with the same direction copper step faceting.     

Effectively Blocked Mechanism in Quantum Tunnelling of n-Coupled Single-Molecular Magnets

We present theoretical study on quantum tunnelling in s-coupled single-molecule magnets （SMMs） by spincoherent-state path integral. It is found that, due to weak coupling between SMMs, the tunnelling process involving more than one-spin-flip is effectively blocked and the main contribution to the relaxation of the mag- netization comes from the tunnelling processes involving just one-spin-flip. Starting from the negative saturated magnetization, the effect of the antiferromagnetic on tunnelling coupling is found to be qualitatively different from the ferromagnetic coupling. A criterion is developed to determine both the nature and the strength of the exchange coupling from the position of the first resonance of a spherical sample with homogeneous magnetization.     

Evolution of Ge and SiGe Quantum Dots under Excimer Laser Annealing

We present different relaxation mechanisms of Ge and SiGe quantum dots under excimer laser annealing. Investigation of the coarsening and relaxation of the dots shows that the strain in Ge dots on Ge films is relaxed by dislocation since there is no interface between the Ge dots and the Ge layer, while the SiGe dots on Si0.77Ge0.23 film relax by lattice distortion to coherent dots, which results from the obvious interface between the SiGe dots and the Si0.77Ge0.23 film. The results are suggested and sustained by Vanderbilt and Wickham＇s theory, and also demonstrate that no bulk diffusion occurs during the excimer laser annealing.     

High-performance waveguide-integrated Ge/Si avalanche photodetector with small contact angle between selectively epitaxial growth Ge and Si layers

Step-coupler waveguide-integrated Ge/Si avalanche photodetector(APD) is based on the vertical multimode interference(MMI), enhancing light scattering towards the Ge active region and creating mirror images of optical modes close to the Ge layer. However, there are two ineluctable contact angels between selectively epitaxial growth Ge and Si layers and selectively epitaxial growth Si and Si substrate, which has an effect on the coupling efficiency and the absorption of the photodetector. Therefore, step-coupled Ge/Si avalanche photodetectors with different step lengths are designed and fabricated. It is found that responsivity of APDs with step-coupler-length of 3.0 μm is 0.51 A/W at-6 V, 21% higher than that of 1.5 μm, which matches well with simulation absorption. The multiplication gain factor is as high as 50, and the maximum gain-bandwidth product reaches up to 376 GHz.     

Effects of O defects on adsorption of small Ag clusterson a MgO(001) surface

The interaction of Ag atoms with a defective MgO(001) surface is systematically studied based on density functional theory. The Ag clusters are deposited on neutral and charged oxygen vacancies of the MgO(001) surface. The structures of Ag clusters take the shape of simple models of two- or three-dimensional (2D and 3D) metal particles deposited on the MgO surface. When the nucleation of the metal clusters occurs in the F_s (missing neutral O) centre, the interaction with the substrate is considerably stronger than that in the F_s⁺ (missing O^- ) centre. The results show that the adsorption of Ag atoms on the MgO surface with oxygen vacancy is stronger than on a clear MgO surface, thereby attracting more Ag atoms to cluster together, and forming atomic islands.     

Algorithm of far-field centre estimation based on phase-only matched filter

Estimation of the far-field centre is carried out in beam auto-alignment. In this paper, the features of the far-field of a square beam are presented. Based on these features, a phase-only matched filter is designed, and the algorithm of centre estimation is developed. Using the simulated images with different kinds of noise and the 40 test images that are taken in sequence, the accuracy of this algorithm is estimated. Results show that the error is no more than one pixel for simulated noise images with a 99% probability, and the stability is restricted within one pixel for test images. Using the improved algorithm, the consumed time is reduced to 0.049s.     

Scanning tunnelling microscope studies of growth of RuO2（110） thin layer on Ru（0001）

This paper reports that the growth of RuO_x(110) thin layer growth on Ru(0001) has been investigated by means of scanning tunnelling microscope (STM). The STM images showed a domain structure with three rotational domains of RuO_x(110) rotated by an angle of 120℃. The as-grown RuO_x(110) thin layer is expanded from the bulk-truncated RuO_x(110) due to the large mismatch between RuO_x(110) and the Ru(0001) substrate. The results also indicate that growth of RuO_x(110) thin layer on the Ru(0001) substrate by oxidation tends first to formation of the Ru-O (oxygen) chains in the [001] direction of RuO_x(110).     

Step instability of the In_0.2Ga_0.8As （001） surface during annealing

Anisotropic evolution of the step edges on the compressive-strained In0.2Ga0.8 As/GaAs(001) surface has been investigated by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). The experiments suggest that step edges are indeed sinuous and protrude somewhere a little way along the [110] direction, which is different from the classical waviness predicted by the theoretical model. We consider that the monatomic step edges undergo a morphological instability induced by the anisotropic diffusion of adatoms on the terrace during annealing, and we improve a kinetic model of step edge based on the classical Burton–Cabrera–Frank (BCF) model in order to determine the normal velocity of step enlargement. The results show that the normal velocity is proportional to the arc length of the peninsula, which is consistent with the first result of our kinetic model. Additionally, a significant phenomenon is an excess elongation along the [110] direction at the top of the peninsula with a higher aspect ratio, which is attributed to the restriction of diffusion lengths.