| AVS 59th Annual International Symposium and Exhibition | |
| In Situ Microscopy and Spectroscopy Focus Topic | Wednesday Sessions |
| Session IS+AS+OX+ET-WeM |
| Session: | In Situ Characterization of Solids: Film Growth, Defects, and Interfaces |
| Presenter: | Y. Fujikawa, Tohoku University, Japan |
| Authors: | Y. Fujikawa, Tohoku University, Japan E. Saitoh, Tohoku University, Japan |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Thin film growth of Bi and related compounds has been attracted much attention because of their exotic properties originating in the large spin-orbit interaction of Bi. Growth of its simple substance is known to result in the formation of a thin-film phase in the initial stage, which is taken over by the bulk growth when the coverage exceeds several monolayers (ML). [1] With typical growth conditions, this transition takes place before the completion of the thin-film layer, which tends to agglomerate to form 4-ML thick islands, making it difficult to measure the intrinsic property of the thin-film phase. In this work, Bi growth on Si(111)-7x7 has been performed in a multi-probe VT-STM system, which provides wide-ranging opportunity of kinetic control and in-situ transport measurement during the thin film growth. By tuning the kinetic condition of the growth, it becomes possible to grow the thin-film phase uniformly covering the substrate. Its conductivity, monotonically increasing with the increase of the temperature, would suggest the variable-range hopping conduction rather than the carrier excitation of semiconductors. In-situ transport measurement has been performed during the layer-by-layer growth of the Bi thin-film phase, distinguishing the conductivity of each growth unit. It fluctuates with periods of 2 and 4 ML, which may reflect the atomic structure of the thin-film phase.
[1] Nagao et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 105501 (2004).