Initial Stage of Si/Si(100) Epitaxy
A Brief Description
Recent Scanning Tunneling Microscopy(STM) studies of Si/Si(100) and Ge/Si(100) identified chain structures consisting of two-atom units which may play a key role in the initial stages of epitaxial growth. These paired adatom units were found to behave distinctly different from other ad-dimers. We have investigated the structure, energetics, and local electronic properties of Si/Si(100) using an O(N) non-orthogonal tight-binding molecular dynamics scheme. This study reveals the nature of the metastable paired-adatom units and provides a kinetics mechanism for the formation of chain structures near room temperature.
Recent Publications Relating to Initial Stage of Si/Si(100) Epitaxy
- Shudun Liu, Chakram S. Jayanthi, Shi-Yu Wu, X.R. Qin, Zhenyu Zhang, and Max G. Lagally; submitted to Physical Review Letters (1998).