AVS 45th International Symposium
    Surface Science Division Thursday Sessions
       Session SS-ThP

Paper SS-ThP6
Adatom Pairing or Dimer Formation for Si on Ge(001)?

Thursday, November 5, 1998, 5:30 pm, Room Hall A

Session: Surface Science Division Poster Session
Presenter: H.J.W. Zandvliet, University of Twente, The Netherlands
Authors: H.J.W. Zandvliet, University of Twente, The Netherlands
E. Zoethout, University of Twente, The Netherlands
W. Wulfhekel, University of Twente, The Netherlands
G. Rosenfeld, University of Twente, The Netherlands
B. Poelsema, University of Twente, The Netherlands
Correspondent: Click to Email
The early stages of room temperature growth of Si on Ge(001) have been studied with Scanning Tunneling Microscopy. The smallest observed entity is a cluster containing two Si atoms. The two atom clusters residing on top of the substrate dimer rows are dimers. These on top dimers exhibit a rotational mode and diffuse preferential along the substrate rows with activation barriers of 0.7 eV and 0.86 eV, respectively. Using dual bias imaging we show that the two-atom clusters that are positioned in trough positions are ordinary dimers too rather than adatom paired units. These "trough" dimers occasionally hop to an on top position and vice versa providing a pathway for diffusion across the substrate dimer rows.