Atomic structure of Ge quantum dots on the Si(001) surface

Abstract

In situ morphological investigation of the {105} faceted Ge islands on the Si(001) surface (hut clusters) have been carried out using an ultra high vacuum instrument integrating a high resolution scanning tunnelling microscope and a molecular beam epitaxy vessel. Both species of hut clusters--pyramids and wedges--were found to have the same structure of the {105} facets which was visualized. Structures of vertexes of the pyramidal clusters and ridges of the wedge-shaped clusters were revealed as well and found to be different. This allowed us to propose a crystallographic model of the {105} facets as well as models of the atomic structure of both species of the hut clusters. An inference is made that transitions between the cluster shapes are impossible.

6 pages, 6 figures. Accepted to JETP Letters (publication date 2010-03-25)

References in corpus (1)

• Structure and peculiarities of the (8 x n)-type Si(001) surface prepared in a molecular-beam epitaxy chamber: a scanning tunneling microscopy study

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Nucleation of Ge quantum dots on the Si(001) surface
• CMOS compatible dense arrays of Ge quantum dots on the Si(001) surface: Hut cluster nucleation, atomic structure, and array life cycle during UHV MBE growth
• Ge quantum dot arrays grown by ultrahigh vacuum molecular beam epitaxy on the Si(001) surface: nucleation, morphology and CMOS compatibility
• STM and RHEED study of the Si(001)-c(8x8) surface
• Phase transition on the Si(001) clean surface prepared in UHV MBE chamber: A study by high resolution STM and in situ RHEED
• An initial phase of Ge hut array formation at low temperature on Si(001)
• On atomic structure of Ge huts growing on the Ge/Si(001) wetting layer
• The formation of intermediate layers in covered Ge/Si heterostructures with low-temperature quantum dots: a study using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy