AVS 53rd International Symposium
    Surface Science Tuesday Sessions
       Session SS1-TuA

Paper SS1-TuA6
Epitaxial Growth of Gd Silicide Nanostructures on Si(001)

Tuesday, November 14, 2006, 3:40 pm, Room 2002

Session: Surface Structure and Morphology
Presenter: G. Ye, Michigan State University
Authors: G. Ye, Michigan State University
M.A. Crimp, Michigan State University
J. Nogami, University of Toronto, Canada
Correspondent: Click to Email
Self-assembled gadolinium disilicide nanostructures grown on Si(001) substrates have been studied by scanning tunneling microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. The nanostructures can be divided into two classes: highly elongated nanowires with hexagonal crystal structure and compact, rectangular islands with orthorhombic (or tetragonal) crystal structure. The different polymorphs of GdSi@sub 2@ have slightly different lattice parameters, and the nanostructure morphology is correlated with the magnitude and the direction of the silicide lattice mismatch with respect to the substrate. Different crystal structures can coexist within a single nanostructure, and the microscopy suggests that this is a result of phase transformation rather than coalescence. Possible mechanisms for this transformation are discussed. These results will be compared with similar data from Dy, Tb, and Sc silicide nanostructures to further reinforce the relationship between nanostructure morphology and crystal structure in these systems.