J. C. Mahato

Nanodot to nanowire: A strain-driven shape transition in self-organized endotaxial CoSi2 on Si(100)

We report a phenomenon of strain-driven shape transition in the growth of nanoscale self-organized endotaxial CoSi2 islands on Si(100) substrates. Nanodots of CoSi2 grow in the square shape following the four fold symmetry of the Si(100) substrate, up to a critical size of 67 × 67 nm2, where a shape transition takes place. Larger islands grow as nanowires with ever increasing length and the width decreasing to an asymptotic value of ∼25 nm. This produces long nanowires of nearly constant width. The endotaxial nanostructures grow into the Si substrate with a small extension above the surface.

Self-organized one-atom thick fractal nanoclusters via field-induced atomic transport

We report on the growth of a monolayer thick fractal nanostructures of Ag on flat-top Ag islands, grown on Si(111). Upon application of a voltage pulse at an edge of the flat-top Ag island from a scanning tunneling microscope tip, Ag atoms climb from the edge onto the top of the island. These atoms aggregate to form precisely one-atom thick nanostructures of fractal nature. The fractal (Hausdorff) dimension, DH = 1.75 ± 0.05, of this nanostructure has been determined by analyzing the morphology of the growing nanocluster, imaged by scanning tunneling microscopy, following the application of the voltage pulse. This value of the fractal dimension is consistent with the diffusion limited aggregation (DLA) model. We also determined two other fractal dimensions based on perimeter-radius-of-gyration (DP) and perimeter-area (D′P) relationship. Simulations of the DLA process, with varying sticking probability, lead to different cluster morphologies [P. Meakin, Phys. Rev. A 27, 1495 (1983)]; however, the value of ...

Negative differential resistance in electron tunneling in ultrathin films near the two-dimensional limit

We report on our observation of negative differential resistance (NDR) in electron tunneling conductance in atomic-scale ultrathin Ag films on Si(111) substrates. NDR was observed by scanning tunneling spectroscopy measurements. The tunneling conductance depends on the electronic local density of states (LDOS) of the sample. We show that the sample bias voltage, at which negative differential resistance and peak negative conductance occur, depends on the film thickness. This can be understood from the variation in the LDOS of the Ag films as a function of film thickness down to the two-dimensional limit of one atomic layer. First principles density functional theory calculations have been used to explain the results.

Self-organized patterns along sidewalls of iron silicide nanowires on Si(110) and their origin

Iron silicide (cubic FeSi2) nanowires have been grown on Si(110) by reactive deposition epitaxy and investigated by scanning tunneling microscopy and scanning/transmission electron microscopy. On an otherwise uniform nanowire, a semi-periodic pattern along the edges of FeSi2 nanowires has been discovered. The origin of such growth patterns has been traced to initial growth of silicide nanodots with a pyramidal Si base at the chevron-like atomic arrangement of a clean reconstructed Si(110) surface. The pyramidal base evolves into a comb-like structure along the edges of the nanowires. This causes the semi-periodic structure of the iron silicide nanowires along their edges.

Roughening in Electronic Growth of Ag on Si(111)-(7×7) Surfaces

Roughening in the electronic growth of Ag films on Si(111)-(7×7) surfaces for a film thickness ranging from 1 to 30 monolayers is reported. Ag films exhibit the growth of flat-top plateaus of preferential heights due quantum electronic effect. We have observed roughening of the film growth due to instability with linear diffusion characterized by the ln(θ)(1/2) dependence of the local surface slope, where θ is the Ag coverage. The roughening of the surface morphology has been characterized by scaling exponents α, β and 1/z, which are determined using scanning tunneling microscopy. Increased value of α = 0.67 ± 0.04 at the early stage of the electronic growth with two atomic layer height flat-top isolated Ag mounds to 0.77 ± 0.06 at the later stage of the growth when isolated mounds coalesce and form percolated structures maintaining preferential heights of an even number of atomic layers in the Ag mounds indicates the instability in the electronic growth. As a result, interface width W increases as a power law of coverage (θ), W ∼ θ(β), with growth exponent β = 0.33 ± 0.03, and lateral correlation length ξ grows as ξ ∼ θ(1/z) with 1/z = 0.27 ± 0.05.

Unidirectional endotaxial cobalt di-silicide nanowires on Si(110) substrates

Self-organized growth of well-ordered endotaxial silicide nanowires (NWs) on clean Si(110) surfaces has been investigated by in situ scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Co deposition on clean Si(110) reconstructed surfaces at ∼600 °C produces unidirectional CoSi2 NWs by reaction of cobalt with the hot silicon substrate. STM investigations reveal four major types of distinct NWs, all growing along the [-110] in-plane direction except one type growing along the in-plane [-113] direction. There are also some nanodots. The cross-sectional TEM measurements show that the unidirectional NWs are of two types-flat-top and ridged. The NWs grow not only on the substrate but also into the substrate. CoSi2 in flat top NWs are in the same crystallographic orientation as the substrate Si and the buried interfaces between CoSi2 and Si are A-type. In the ridged NWs CoSi2 and Si are in different crystallographic orientations and the interfaces are B-type. The ridged NWs are in general wider and grow deeper into the substrate.

Real time investigation of the effect of thermal expansion coefficient mismatch on film-substrate strain partitioning in Ag/Si systems

We have used X-ray diffraction (XRD) to investigate strain partitioning between an epitaxial layer and the substrate as a function of temperature, where the substrate (Si) and the epilayer material (Ag) have large thermal expansion coefficient (α) mismatch. The Ag/Si(111) system undergoes morphological changes upon heating, and the larger and taller islands are formed exposing more substrate surfaces. Sample heating was carried out under nitrogen flow. At >300 °C, the Si(111) diffraction peak splits into three. One of these components conforms to the thermal expansion of bulk Si. The other two components correspond to a highly nonlinear decrease and increase of Si-d(111) planar spacing. The decreasing component has been associated with strained Si under Ag and the increasing component with strained Si under SiO2, which has been formed partly prior to the XRD experiment and partly during sample heating. The opposite trends of these two Si-d(111) components are because of the larger value of α for Ag (7 tim...

Early stage fractal growth in thin films below the percolation limit

We demonstrate the fractal growth of epitaxial Ag thin films on Si(111) surfaces using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). The initial stage growth of Ag thin films provides islands of compact shape. These compact-shaped two-dimensional (2D) islands follow the Euclidian dimension 2. As the islands grow they become fractal in nature. The fractal (Hausdorff) dimension of the islands depends on the coverage of the Ag thin films. The mechanism responsible for this fractal nature of the Ag nanostructures varies from diffusion limited aggregation (DLA) to diffusion limited cluster aggregation (DLCA).

Simultaneous growth of sub-nanometer deep vacancy island and epitaxial silicide islands on Si (111)

Novel surface structures in the growth of self-organized CoSi2 epitaxial nanostructures by Co deposition on heated Si (111) surfaces have been investigated with scanning tunneling microscopy at room temperature. At sub-monolayer Co deposition on clean Si (111), Si vacancy islands of one bilayer depth are observed. CoSi2 islands grow within the Si vacancy island as well as on the surface. The number of Si atoms contained in the CoSi2 island grown within a vacancy is ∼ 1.5 times the number of Si atoms depleted due to the vacancy creation. This excess of Si atoms in the island arguably diffuse from beneath the island.

Growth of a-few-atom wide nanowires with different surface reconstructions via desorption of Au on vicinal Si (111) surfaces

We present scanning tunneling microscopy studies of adsorption and desorption of Au on vicinal Si (111) - 7×7 (4° miscut) surfaces. The Au film transforms into percolated structures due to annealing at 400 °C. On annealing at 800 °C, the Au film is found to evaporate completely from the terrace whereas the step edges retain the signature of Au in the form of droplets. This also modifies the atomic structure of the step-bunched facets which show nanowire-like structures with various surface reconstructions like 7×5, 5×3√2 and 5×2 which are Au-induced reconstructions.