Spontaneous formation of ordered indium nanowire array on Si(001)

Growth of In on the Si(001)-2xn nanostructured surface is investigated by a n in situ scanning tunneling microscope (STM). The deposited In atoms predo minantly occupy the normal 2x1 dimer-row structure, and develop into a unif orm array of In nanowires at a coverage of similar to0.2 ML. High-resolutio n STM images show that the In atoms form a stable local 2x2 reconstruction that removes surface Si dangling bonds states and saturates all In valency. Since the dimensions of the Si(001)-2xn vacancy line structure depend on i mpurity concentrations, this study demonstrates that the 2xn surface can be used for spontaneous fabrication of various metal nanowire arrays. (C) 200 1 American Institute of Physics.