Ag-induced zero- and one-dimensional nanostructures on vicinal Si(111)

Abstract

The formation of a Ag-stabilized regular step lattice on vicinal Si(111) miscut towards [112̄] is reported. The step bunching characteristic of the clean surface is prevented by single-domain Si(111)-(3×1)-Ag reconstruction. The nanostructured surface is used as a template for growing one-dimensional arrays of 1 nm sized Ag quantum dots with a preferential spacing of 1.5 nm along the rows. © 2002 American Institute of Physics.