Self-assembled rare-earth silicide nanowires on Si(001) - art. no. 233305

This paper presents scanning tunneling microscope images of several rare-ea rth metal silicides grown on silicon (001). For certain of the metals studi ed (Dy, Ho), an anisotropy in lattice match with the substrate results in t he formation of nanowires. These nanowires have desirable properties such a s nanometer lateral dimension, crystalline structure with a low density of defects, and micrometer scale length. Tunneling spectroscopy on the nanowir es indicates that they are metallic.