Origin of the Stability of Ge(105) on Si: A New Structure Model and Surface Strain Relaxation

Y. Fujikawa; K. Akiyama; T. Nagao; T. Sakurai; M. G. Lagally; T. Hashimoto; Y. Morikawa; K. Terakura

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.88.176101

Origin of the Stability of Ge(105) on Si: A New Structure Model and Surface Strain Relaxation

Y. Fujikawa, K. Akiyama, T. Nagao, T. Sakurai, M. G. Lagally, T. Hashimoto, Y. Morikawa, and K. Terakura

Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 176101 – Published 15 April 2002

Abstract

The structure of $Ge (105) - (1 \times 2)$ grown on Si(105) is examined by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and first-principles calculations. The morphology evolution with an increasing amount of Ge deposited documents the existence of a tensile surface strain in Si(105) and its relaxation with increasing coverage of Ge. A detailed analysis of high-resolution STM images and first-principles calculations produce a new stable model for the $Ge (105) - (1 \times 2)$ structure formed on the Si(105) surface that includes the existence of surface strain. It corrects the model developed from early observations of the facets of “hut” clusters grown on Si(001).

Received 11 January 2002

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.88.176101

Authors & Affiliations

Y. Fujikawa^1,2, K. Akiyama¹, T. Nagao¹, T. Sakurai¹, and M. G. Lagally^1,2

¹Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577, Japan
²University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706

T. Hashimoto¹, Y. Morikawa^1,2, and K. Terakura¹

¹Research Institute for Computational Sciences and Research Consortium for Synthetic Nano-Function Materials Project, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), 1-1-1 Umezono, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8568, Japan
²School of Materials Science, Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST), 1-1 Asahidai, Tatsunokuchi, Ishikawa 923-1292, Japan