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Surface reconstructions in two and three dimensions: In on Si(111)
Author(s) -
Pavlovska A.,
Bauer E.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
surface and interface analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.52
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1096-9918
pISSN - 0142-2421
DOI - 10.1002/sia.1943
Subject(s) - monolayer , epitaxy , electron diffraction , low energy electron diffraction , indium , crystallography , surface reconstruction , layer (electronics) , substrate (aquarium) , materials science , deposition (geology) , surface energy , diffraction , surface (topology) , chemistry , condensed matter physics , optics , nanotechnology , geometry , optoelectronics , physics , paleontology , mathematics , oceanography , sediment , geology , composite material , biology
Abstract The surface reconstructions of indium (In) grown on Si(111) at coverages above one monolayer (ML) were studied by low‐energy electron microscopy. Two‐dimensional well‐ordered In layers were prepared by deposition at room temperature on the Si(111)‐(√3 × √3)‐R30° ‐In surface because room temperature growth of indium on clean Si(111)‐(7 × 7) substrate is disordered. Three new surface reconstructions were observed when the thickness of the In layer increases from 1 to 2 ML: (2 × 1); (1.5√3 × 1.5√3)‐R30° and a mixture of (√7 × √3) and ‘(1 × 1)‐R30°’. On the double layer In grows at room temperature epitaxially in the form of three‐dimensional crystals with predominant (100) orientation. The In(100) surface on top of these three‐dimensional crystals is reconstructed in the same manner as found in an earlier low‐energy electron diffraction study of the (100) surface of bulk In crystal. The preferred (100) orientation can be explained very well by the fact that the (√7 × √3) phase of the double layer has a centered square unit mesh that has a very small misfit with the centered unit mesh of the reconstructed In(100) surface. With increasing temperature the In(100) surface of the three‐dimensional microcrystals deconstructs at ∼120 °C. At the same temperature the (√7 × √3) structure of the two‐dimensional In layer undergoes a reversible transition to a (1 × 1) pattern that is attributed to disordering of the In double layer. At low temperatures a third monolayer of In with a packing density of a slightly compressed In(111) plane grows on the double layer. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.