Self‐assembled Si nanostripe grating at the molecular scale as a template for 1D growth

At room temperature, the early stages (submonolayer) of silicon (Si) deposition onto the anisotropic Ag(110) surface lead to the formation of flat‐lying, individual Si nanostripes, with a high aspect ratio, all oriented along the Ag[−100] direction. Two kinds of nanostripes, varying in their width, are observed. When deposited at ∼200 °C, these one‐dimensional (1D) nanostructures self‐assemble laterally, to form a perfect 1D‐array of essentially identical nanowires, 1.6 nm in width. They cover uniformly the entire Ag substrate up to macroscopic sizes. The self‐assembled Si nanostripes have been characterized by high‐resolution scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), and a model of their atomic arrangement is proposed. This Si grating has been subsequently used as a template for selective 1D growth of 1D Co nanolines. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.