Non-contact atomic force microscopy and scanning tunneling microscopy of coexisting reconstructions on Si(111)

Abstract

The coexisting metastable reconstructions of the Si(111) surface have been investigated by non contact-atomic force microscopy (NC-AFM). True atomic resolution has been achieved in the NC-AFM imaging of the 7 × 7, c(2 × 8), 2 × 2, c(2 × 4), and √3 × √3 coexisting reconstructions of the same quenched surface sample. A simple comparison with scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) results is given, and imaging of 2 × 1 π-bonded chains island is also reported. © 2005 The Surface Science Society of Japan.