RHEED from stepped surfaces and its relation to RHEED intensity oscillations observed during MBE

Multiple scattering theory is used to calculate the intensities of reflection high energy electron diffraction from periodic arrays of surface steps. The intensities are found to depend strongly on the direction of the incident beam azimuth. When the incident beam azimuth is parallel to the step edges, both the specular and diffracted beam intensities are diminished with respect to the intensities from a flat surface. When the incident beam azimuth is perpendicular to the edges, the intensities of all the beams are of the same order of magnitude as for a flat surface but some of the peak heights are oscillatory functions of the number of atoms in the topmost layer. These peak intensity oscillations are very similar to the intensity oscillations observed during molecular beam epitaxial film growth.     

Effects of diffraction conditions and processes on rheed intensity oscillations during the MBE growth of GaAs

The RHEED intensity oscillation technique has received wide-spread attention for the study of MBE growth dynamics, but insufficient consideration has been given to the diffraction conditions and processes involved. We report here a systematic investigation of the intensity oscillation behaviour as a function of diffraction parameters (azimuth, incidence angle, specular and non-specular beams), with constant growth conditions for GaAs films on GaAs (001) substrates.We show that many reported anomalies attributed to growth effects, such as phase differences and periodicity variations, can be accounted for entirely by diffraction events, provided it is realised that multiple scattering processes are the dominant cause of RHEED intensity variations during growth.The technique can provide valuable information on growth behaviour, but only if diffraction-dependent effects are first eliminated.     

Adatom concentration on GaAs(001) during MBE annealing

We study the concentration of adatoms on GaAs(001) during annealing under MBE conditions. By rapidly cooling the sample from typical growth temperatures and typical As overpressures, the thermal concentration of adatoms can be frozen into small islands on the terraces. The area of the resulting islands is measured with STM far from terrace steps, giving an estimate of the concentration of adatoms during equilibrium. We find that a surprisingly large concentration of adatoms is present for typical growth temperatures, e.g. 0.18 monolayer at 600°C. Possible consequences for current growth models are discussed.     

Atomic and electronic structures of carbon nanotubes on Si(001) stepped surfaces

We report first-principles total-energy calculations that provide energetics and electronic structures of adsorbed carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on stepped Si(001) surfaces. We find that adsorption energies strongly depend on the directions of CNTs, and that there are several metastable adsorption sites both on terraces and near step edges. We also find that the electronic structure of adsorbed metallic CNTs becomes semiconducting or remains metallic, depending on the adsorption site. Charge redistribution upon adsorption is prominent mainly at the CNT-surface interface.     

Second-harmonic spectroscopy of Ge/Si(001) and Si1-xGex(001)/Si(001)

0.9 Ge_0.1(001)/Si(001) films with SH photon energies 3.1<2hν<3.5 eV near the bulk E₁ critical point of Si(001) or Si_0.9Ge_0.1(001). Ge was deposited on Si(001) by using atomic layer epitaxy cycles with GeH₄ or Ge₂H₆ deposition at 410 K followed by hydrogen desorption. As Ge coverage increased from 0 to 2 monolayers the SH signal increased uniformly by a factor of seven with no detectable shift in the silicon E₁ resonant peak position. SH signals from Si_0.9Ge_0.1(001)/Si(001) were also stronger than those from intrinsic Si(001). Hydrogen termination of the Si_0.9Ge_0.1(001) and Ge/Si(001) surfaces strongly quenched the SH signals, which is similar to the reported trend on H/Si(001). We attribute the stronger signals from Ge-containingsurfaces to the stronger SH polarizability of asymmetric Ge-Si and Ge-Ge dimers compared to Si-Si dimers. Hydrogen termination symmetrizes all dimers, thus quenching the SH polarizability of all of the surfaces investigated. Received: 13 October 1998 / Revised version: 18 January 1999     

Nucleation and growth during molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) of Si on Si(111)

The nucleation of Si on Si(111) has been studied during deposition in UHV by spot profile analysis of low energy electron diffraction (SPA-LEED). A new method of evaluation is developed by separating the measured spot profile into a central spike and a broad shoulder. The energy dependence of the fraction of the central spike out of the total diffracted intensity provides the vertical distribution of surface atoms over different levels. With this method it is shown that the first nucleation occurs in islands of double height. Only after deposition of several layers a layer-by-layer growth is found with a well defined nucleation of a new layer before the former one is completed.     

Surface electromigration of metals on Si(001): In/Si(001)

The possibility of surface electromigration (SE) of metals of In, Ga, Sb and Ag on a very flat Si(001)2×1 substrate (single domain 2×1) was examined by SEM, μ-RHEED and μ-AES under UHV conditions. It was found that Ga, Sb and Ag show no SE on Si(001) surface even at DC annealing temperatures for the desorption of these metals. For In on Si(001), a very fast SE (8000 μm/min) towards the cathode side was found that suddenly sets in at 450°C DC annealing, which was related to a surface phase transition. μ-RHEED and μ-AES observation showed that the SE is related to an ordered 4×3-In phase together with two-dimensional In gas phase over the 4×3-In phase and an In-disordered phase at the front end of SE. Single domain 4×3-In phases were found to occur under sequences of In deposition and DC annealing which involve the In SE on Si(001).     

Transformations of the stepped Si(001) surface structure induced by heating the specimen by a current

The system of uniformly distributed atomic steps on a vicinal Si(001) surface was observed to transform into a system of large terraces, separated by step bands, when the specimen is heated by a direct electric current. This transformation is reversible and depends on the current direction and the initial step density. The experimental data are discussed in terms of electromigration of adatoms.     

Calculation of bremsstrahlung isochromat spectra from NI(001)

First principles calculations of momentum resolved bremsstrahlung isochromat spectra from ferromagnetic Ni(001) are performed for a photon energy $\text{h}\text{?}\text{ω = 9.7}$ eV and electrons incident in the ΓXUL mirror plane. The results obtained within the framework of an inverse one-step model of photoemission using an ab initio self-consistent bandstructure potential show very good agreement with recent experimental data due to Desinger et al..     

Dynamics of image-potential states on stepped Cu(001) surfaces

The dynamical properties of image-potential states on stepped Cu(117) and Cu(118) surfaces were studied by time- and angle-resolved two-photon photoelectron spectroscopy. The interaction with the step-induced potential leads to quasielastic anisotropic scattering between image-potential-state bands. In particular, resonant interband scattering from image-potential states with quantum numbers n2 to the n=1 band and quasielastic intraband scattering within the n=1 band show high efficiency. In spite of the higher step density of Cu(117), resonant scattering is about four times larger on Cu(118). This distinction is attributed to the different step distributions of the two surfaces and to the concomitant correlation of the step arrangement on short- and long-range scales, which has been studied by scanning tunneling microscopy. Details of the surface band structure lead to different boundary conditions and may weakly affect scattering probabilities. PACS 73.20.At; 79.60.Bm; 79.60.Dp; 79.60.Ht     

Order-disorder transition on Si(001)

A phase transition between c(4x2) and 2x1 structures on the Si(001) surface has been observed at 200 K by low-energy electron diffraction. This transition is a second order order-disorder transition of the asymmetric dimer configuration. The streak pattern remains up to well above the transition temperature. The temperature dependence of the width and the length of the streak can be described in terms of the effects of a strong anisotropic coupling between adjacent asymmetric dimers.