Distance dependence of noncontact-AFM image contrast on Si(111) × –Ag structure

Atomic resolution imaging of the Si(111) × R30°–Ag surface was investigated using a noncontact atomic force microscopy (NC-AFM) in ultrahigh vacuum. NC-AFM images showed three types of contrasts depending on the distance between an AFM tip and a sample surface. When the tip–sample distance was about 1–3 Å, the images showed the honeycomb arrangement with weak contrast. When the tip–sample distance was about 0–0.5 Å, the images showed the periodic structure composed of three bright spots with relatively strong contrast. On the other hand, the contrasts of images measured at the distance of 0.5–1 Å seemed to be composed of the above-mentioned two types of contrasts. By comparing the site of bright spots in the AFM images with honeycomb-chained trimer (HCT) model, we suggested the following models: when the tip is far from the sample surface, tip–sample interaction force contributing to imaging is dominated by physical bonding interaction such as Coulomb force and/or van der Waals (vdW) force between the tip apex Si atoms and Ag trimer on the sample surface. On the other hand, just before the contact, tip–sample interaction force contributing to imaging is dominated by chemical bonding such as the force due to hybridization between the dangling bond out of the tip apex Si atom and the orbit of Si–Ag covalent bond on the sample surface.     

Non-contact AFM images of a C60 molecule adsorbed on the Si(0 0 1) surface: An ab initio method

A theoretical non-contact atomic force microscope (nc-AFM) image is simulated for an individual C₆₀ molecule adsorbed on the clean Si(0 0 1) surface. The ability to identify the intramolecular features of the molecule though nc-AFM imaging would allow many of the different configurations the molecule may take when adsorbed, to be identified. This would be an important preliminary step in the manipulation of the molecule along the surface, as the initial configuration that the molecule is in will affect the periodicity of the tip trajectory during the manipulation event (see D.L. Keeling et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 94 (2005) #146104). Presented in this paper are simulated images and force curves above important sites for key stable configurations of the C₆₀ molecule. It is shown that in principle it is possible to distinguish between the different configurations of the molecule using nc-AFM. An ab initio DFT method was used to accurately describe the chemical interaction between the adsorbate and the Si tip, which has a single dangling bond at its apex.     

Si(110)和Si(111)衬底上制备InGaN/GaN蓝光发光二极管

分别在Si(110)和Si(111)衬底上制备了In Ga N/Ga N多量子阱结构蓝光发光二极管(LED)器件.利用高分辨X射线衍射、原子力显微镜、室温拉曼光谱和变温光致发光谱对生长的LED结构进行了结构表征.结果表明,相对于Si(111)上生长LED样品,Si(110)上生长的LED结构晶体质量较好,样品中存在较小的张应力,具有较高的内量子效率.对制备的LED芯片进行光电特性分析测试表明,两种衬底上制备的LED芯片等效串联电阻相差不大,在大电流注入下内量子效率下降较小;但是,相比于Si(111)上制备LED芯片,Si(110)上LED芯片具有较小的开启电压和更优异的发光特性.对LED器件电致发光(EL)发光峰随驱动电流的变化研究发现,由于Si(110)衬底上LED结构中阱层和垒层存在较小的应力/应变而在器件中产生较弱的量子限制斯塔克效应,致使Si(110)上LED芯片EL发光峰随驱动电流的蓝移量更小.     

Atomic wire oxidation of H-terminated Si(100)-( 2x1): domino reaction via oxidation and H migration

We studied oxidation at a dangling bond (DB) on the H-terminated Si(100) surface by the first-principles calculations. We found that oxidation easily occurs at the exposed DB on the H-terminated Si(100) surface. The dissociated O atoms are chemisorbed at a dimer bond and a back bond, resulting in adjacent H atom migration onto the DB. As a consequence of the alternate oxidation and subsequent H atom migration processes, the atomic wire oxidation is actually found to occur on the H-terminated Si(100) surface at low temperatures without desorbing H atoms, as observed in our scanning tunneling microscopy experiment.     

单畴的单原子In纳米线阵列的制备与研究

利用Si（001）向［110］方向偏4°角的斜切表面作为衬底，成功地制备了分布均匀的单畴的单原子In链阵列.扫描隧道显微镜分析表明，沉积的In原子优先吸附在台面上沿着台阶内边缘的位置，并在两个Si的二聚体链之间形成稳定的In二聚体.In二聚体组成直的单原子链，其生长机理与Car提出的“表面聚合反应”相一致.另外，衬底具有非常窄的台面和双原子层台阶边的特殊结构是形成单畴的单原子链的关键. 关键词： 铟单原子链 硅邻近面 扫描隧道显微镜     

Structural phase transition on Si(001) and Ge(001) surfaces

Among a variety of solid surfaces, Si(001) and Ge(001) have been most extensively studied. Although they seem to be rather simple systems, there have been many conflicting arguments about the atomic structure on these surfaces. We first present experimental evidence indicating that the buckled dimer is the basic building block and that the structural phase transition between the low-temperature c(4x2) structure and the high-temperature (2x1) structure is of the order-disorder type. We then review recent theoretical work on this phase transition. The real system is mapped onto a model Ising-spin system and the interaction parameters are derived from total-energy calculations for different arrangements of buckled dimers. The calculated critical temperature agrees reasonably well with the experimental one. It is pointed out that the nature of the phase transition is crucially affected by a small amount of defects on the real surfaces.     

Atomic and electronic structure of the Si(001) surface induced by hydrogen-adsorption

The initial stage of hydrogen (H) adsorption on the Si(001) surface is theoretically investigated to clarify the atomic and electronic structure induced by the adsorption. For this purpose, the electronic states are calculated in the density functional approach with the DV(discretized variation)-Xα-LCAO method. We also simulate the scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) image and the scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) spectrum in the first-principles approach. Our results of the STM image do not support the asymmetric dimer structure of the substrate with a H atom bonded to the upper Si atom. They conclude that the bright ball-like spot in the observed images comes from the free dangling bond induced on the remaining Si atom of the reacted dimer. However, the single particle picture cannot reproduce the observed features of the STS spectrum at the spot. We discuss that all the features can be well explained by the Coulomb blockade effect due to the electron correlation in the dangling bond state.     

Dimer elongation on the monohydride-covered Ge/Si(100) surface

Using transmission ion channeling, we have made the first measurement of the Ge dimer geometry for the monohydride-covered Ge/Si(100)-2×1 surface. Comparison of calculated angular scans with experimental angular scans near the 100 and 110 directions has resulted in a measured Ge dimer bond length of 2.8 Å, which is 8% longer than the corresponding dimer bond length reported for Ge on Si(100) in the absence of H. This elongation is similar to that reported for Si dimers on the Si(100) surface. Also, relative to the (100) surface plane, the dimers change from tilted without H to untilted with H.     

On a rudimentary model of instability and (2 x 1) reconstruction of Si (001) and (111) surfaces

A recently proposed simple qualitative theory of instability and reconstruction of surfaces of solids exhibiting a certain covalent component of bonding is applied to (2 x 1) Si (001) and (111) surfaces with a possible extension to analogous surfaces of germanium and GaAs (001)., Shockley surface states from the vicinity of the Fermi energy are supposed to play a crucial role in the electron-phonon coupling. For the Si (001) surface the interaction between bridge and dangling bonds causes the dimerization (primary effect) and the buckling distortions to couple. If the latter effect is pronounced, the asymmetric dimer might exist as a stable or metastable surface phase. For the Si (111) surface the Pandey -bonded chain model seems to be a natural candidate for reconstruction from the present simple point of view.     

True atomic resolution imaging of surface structure and surface charge on the GaAs(110)

We demonstrated a novel method to detect the van der Waals and the electrostatic force interactions simultaneously on an atomic scale, which is based on frequency modulation detection method. For the first time, the surface structure and the surface charge at atomic-scale point defects on the GaAs(110) surface have been simultaneously resolved with true atomic resolution under ultra-high vacuum condition. From the bias voltage dependence of the image contrast, we can verify that the sign of the atomically resolved surface charge at the point defect was positive.     

Origin of p(2 x 1) phase on Si(001) by noncontact atomic force microscopy at 5 k

The controversial issue of the origin of the p(2 x 1) reconstruction of the Si(001) surface observed in recent low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy experiments is clarified here using 5 K noncontact atomic force microscopy. The c(4 x 2) phase is observed at separations corresponding to weak tip-surface interactions, confirming that it is the ground state of the surface. At larger frequency shifts the p(2 x 1) phase of symmetric dimers is observed. By studying the interaction of a reactive Si tip with the c(4 x 2) Si(001) surface using an ab initio method, we find that the observed change in the surface reconstruction is an apparent effect caused by tip induced dimer flipping resulting in a modification of the surface structure and appearance of the p(2 x 1) phase in the image. Using an appropriate scanning protocol, one can manipulate the surface reconstruction at will, which has significance in nanotechnology.     

Thin PTCDA films on Si(0 0 1): 1. Growth mode

We have studied the interface and thin film formation of the organic molecular semiconductor 3,4,9,10 perylene tetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDA) on clean and on hydrogen passivated Si(0 0 1) surfaces. The studies were made by means of high resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (HRXPS), near edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS), low energy electron diffraction (LEED), and atomic force microscopy (AFM). On the passivated surface the LEED pattern is somewhat diffuse but reveals that the molecules grow in several ordered domains with equivalent orientations to the substrate. NEXAFS shows that the molecules are lying flat on the substrate. The Si 2p XPS line shape is not affected when the film is deposited so it can be concluded that the interaction at the interface between PTCDA and the substrate is weak. The evolution of the film formation appears to be homogeneous for the first monolayer with a nearly complete coverage of flat lying molecules based on the XPS attenuation. For layer thickness of 0.5-2 monolayers (ML) the molecules start to form islands, attracting the molecules in between, leaving the substrate partly uncovered. For thicker films there is a Stranski-Krastanov growth mode with thick islands and a monolayer thick film in between. For the clean surface the ordering of the film is much lower and angle resolved photoelectron spectroscopy (ARPES) of the molecular orbitals have only a small dependence of the emission angle. NEXAFS shows that the molecules do not lie flat on the surface and also reveal a chemical interaction at the interface.     

Si 2p and O 1s photoemission from oxidized Si(0 0 1) surfaces depending on translational kinetic energy of incident O2 molecules

The influence of translational kinetic energy of incident O₂ molecules for the passive oxidation of the partially oxidized Si(0 0 1) surface has been studied by photoemission spectroscopy. The incident energy of O₂ molecules was controlled up to 3 eV by a supersonic molecular beam technique. Two incident energy thresholds (1.0 and 2.6 eV) were found out in accordance with the first-principle calculations. Si 2p and O 1s photoemission spectra measured at representative incident energies showed the incident energy induced oxidation at the backbonds of the dimer and the second layer (subsurface) Si atoms. Moreover, the difference of oxygen chemical bonds was found out to be as the low and the high binding energy components in the O 1s photoemission spectra. They were assigned to bridge sites oxygen and dangling bond sites oxygen, respectively.     

Investigations of C60 molecules deposited on Si(111) by noncontact atomic force microscopy

We demonstrated the high resolution imaging of the organic molecules using noncontact atomic force microscopy in ultrahigh vacuum. The sample was C₆₀ molecules deposited on the Si(111)-7×7 reconstructed surface. When the thickness of the C₆₀ film was submonolayer, we could image some isolated C₆₀ molecules and the reconstructed Si surface simultaneously. However, the imaging was highly unstable not only because of the large structure but also due to the large difference between the interaction forces on the molecules and on the Si surface. On the other hand, when the thickness of the C₆₀ molecules was almost monolayer, individual molecules could be stably imaged.     

SrO/Si(100)表面去氧过程的研究

借助高温扫描隧道显微镜和光电子能谱技术,深入研究了SrO/Si(100)表面向Sr/Si(100)再构表面的动态转化过程.Sr/Si(100)再构表面在硅基氧化物外延生长中起重要作用.在该动态转化过程中,样品在500 ℃的退火温度下,表面出现SrO晶化的现象;在550—590 ℃的退火温度下,SrO/Si(100)开始向Sr/Si(100)转化,界面和表面上的氧以气态的SiO溢出,使得表面出现大量凹槽状缺陷.并且在此动态转化过程中表面的电子态表现出金属特性,这是由于表层硅原子发生断键重排,从而在表面出现悬 关键词： SrO/Si表面 Sr/Si表面 扫描隧道显微镜 去氧过程     

Discrimination of individual atoms on Ge/Si(1 1 1)-(7 × 7) intermixed surface

We have discriminated individual Ge atoms from the intermixed Ge/Si(1 1 1)-(7 × 7) surface using a non-contact atomic force microscope at a room temperature environment. In fact, Si-Ge (IV-IV) binary system is considered as one of the most difficult systems for atomic discrimination among atoms in the IV group because of the similarities in the electronic and chemical properties. However, in this study, we found one of the most attractive tools to discriminate a specific atom from the others even in the difficult Si-Ge system. Ge atoms are shown as dim spots in comparison to Si atoms with bright spots on the intermixed surface by a weak chemical bonding energy and/or a relaxation effect despite large atomic radius and high spatial position in both variable frequency shift and topographic images. The discrimination of individual atoms with respect to the chemical interaction variation will further provide a chance to manipulate different atomic species and assemble various nanostructures in near future.     

STM study of SiC crystallite growth on vicinal Si(111) surfaces

The initial stage of epitaxial growth of cubic β-SiC on vicinal Si(111) misoriented towards the [112̄] direction is studied by scanning tunneling microscopy in ultra-high vacuum. The clean Si(111) surface contains terraces separated by groups of atomic steps. The separation between the atomic steps within a group is observed to be approximately equal to the length of the long axis of the Si(111)7 × 7 unit cell. We postulate that the SiC forms three-sided pyramids with surfaces of (110) orientation. The pyramids are located mostly at the step edges and are sharper than the end of the tip. This results in a series of identically shaped tip images located at the step edges, which display the structure of the tip.     

SiC formation on Si(100) via C60 precursors

The interaction between C₆₀ molecules and the Si(100) surface and the preparation of silicon-carbide thin films by thermal reaction of C₆₀ molecules with the Si(100) surface have been investigated using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy, reflection high-energy electron diffraction and atomic force microscopy measurements. The effects of annealing temperature and C₆₀ coverage on the SiC formation will be discussed. It is found that the C₆₀ molecules bond covalently with silicon, and the number of bonds increase upon increasing the annealing temperature. Annealing at T≥830°C entails the formation of stoichiometric silicon carbide clusters that coalesce to form a continuous SiC layer when the C₆₀ coverage is greater than one monolayer. Deep pits acting as silicon diffusion channels are present with dimensions that increase with the amounts of C₆₀.

The interaction of C₆₀ with the SiC surface was also investigated. It is found that a similar covalent interaction is present in the two systems C₆₀/Si and C₆₀/SiC.     

Growth of single-domain monatomic In chain arrays on the vicinal Si(0 0 1) surface

Using the annealed vicinal Si(0 0 1) surface with 4° miscut toward the [1 1 0] direction as a substrate, single-domain monatomic In chain arrays have been fabricated. High-resolution STM images reveal that deposited In atoms preferentially form In dimers between two neighboring Si dimer rows along the step edges on the lower terrace. Formation of In dimers removes the surface dangling bonds and saturates the In valency. With increasing coverage, the In dimers develop into straight monatomic In chains along the step running direction. It is found that the ordered narrow terrace and rebonded double-layer (D_B) step edge are the keys for the formation of monatomic In chains.