Spontaneous formation of ordered indium nanowire array on Si(001)

摘要

Growth of In on the Si(001)-2×n nanostructured surface is investigated by an in situ scanning tunneling microscope (STM). The deposited In atoms predominantly occupy the normal 2×1 dimer-row structure, and develop into a uniform array of In nanowires at a coverage of ～0.2 ML. High-resolution STM images show that the In atoms form a stable local 2×2 reconstruction that removes surface Si dangling bonds states and saturates all In valency. Since the dimensions of the Si(001)-2×n vacancy line structure depend on impurity concentrations, this study demonstrates that the 2×n surface can be used for spontaneous fabrication of various metal nanowire arrays.