C. Bonet

Self-assembly of ultrafine nanolines upon Ho reaction with the Ge(001) surface

The reaction of the rare earth metal Ho with the Ge(001) surface at 440°C has been studied by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). The self-assembly of ultrafine nanolines growing along substrate ⟨110⟩ directions has been observed, and based on atomic resolution STM images, the authors propose a model of the nanolines and comment on their relationship to the very initial stages of growth of a hexagonal germanide structure. The authors further report the presence of nanoscale trenches associated with well-ordered lines of missing dimer defects and discuss the relationship of these to the nanolines. Their results have possible applications involving interconnects or templating in nanoscale devices, and additionally, may provide insight into the nucleation mechanism of coarser nanowires.

Medium-energy ion-scattering study of strained holmium silicide nanoislands grown on silicon (100)

We have used medium-energy ion scattering (MEIS) to quantitatively analyze the structure of holmium silicide islands grown on the Si(100) surface. Structure fitting to the experimental data unambiguously shows that the tetragonal silicide phase is present and not the hexagonal phase, which is associated with the growth of nanowires at submonolayer coverages. Islands formed with a lower holmium coverage of 3 ML are also shown to be tetragonal, which suggests that the hexagonal structure is not a low coverage precursor to the growth of the tetragonal phase. MEIS simulations of large nanoislands, which include the effects of lateral strain relief, have been performed and these compare well with the experimental data.

STM and ab initio study of holmium nanowires on a Ge(111) surface

A nanorod structure has been observed on the

Use of Monte Carlo Modeling to Aid Interpretation and Quantification of the Low Energy-Loss Electron Yield at Low Primary Energies

\mathrm{Ho}∕\mathrm{Ge}(111)

Monte Carlo modelling of the low-loss electron signal in scanning electron microscopy and comparison with the BSE signal

surface using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). The rods do not require patterning of the surface or defects such as step edges in order to grow as is the case for nanorods on Si(111). At low holmium coverage the nanorods exist as isolated nanostructures while at high coverage they form a periodic

Monte Carlo Modeling of the Low-loss Electron Signal in Scanning Electron Microscopy and Comparison with the BSE Signal

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Structural study of 2D dysprosium germanide and silicide by means of quantitative LEED I–V analysis

structure. We propose a structural model for the

Energy loss in medium-energy ion scattering : a combined theoretical and experimental study of the model system Y on Si(111)

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Metastable de-excitation spectroscopy and scanning tunneling microscopy study of the 2X4 and 2X7 reconstructions of Ho on Si(001)

unit cell and show using an ab initio calculation that the STM profile of our model structure compares favorably to that obtained experimentally for both filled and empty states sampling. The calculated local density of states shows that the nanorod is metallic in character.

Trends and strain in the structures of two-dimensional rare-earth silicides studied using medium-energy ion scattering

Experimental low-loss electron (LLE) yields were measured as a function of loss energy for a range of elemental standards using a high-vacuum scanning electron microscope operating at 5 keV primary beam energy with losses from 0 to 1 keV. The resulting LLE yield curves were compared with Monte Carlo simulations of the LLE yield in the particular beam/sample/detector geometry employed in the experiment to investigate the possibility of modeling the LLE yield for a series of elements. Monte Carlo simulations were performed using both the Joy and Luo [Joy, D.C. & Luo, S., Scanning 11(4), 176988 (2005)] to assess the influence of the more recent stopping power data on the simulation results. Further simulations have been conducted to explore the influence of sample/detector geometry on the LLE signal in the case of layered samples consisting of a thin C overlayer on an elemental substrate. Experimental LLE data were collected from a range of elemental samples coated with a thin C overlayer, and comparisons with Monte Carlo simulations were used to establish the overlayer thickness.