Abstract
In/Si(111) has been studied with spot profile analysis low-energy electron diffraction, scanning tunneling microscope, and first-principles total energy calculations to identify its growth morphology at low temperatures. Of the different substrate interfaces used, only In growth on Si(111)- has resulted in uniform height fcc (111) four-layer islands. A transition to the bulk bct (101) oriented islands is favored at higher temperatures and/or larger coverages . These results suggest two stabilizing effects for the preferred morphologies, i.e., quantum size effects and orientation dependent surface and interface energies. These stabilizing effects are suppported from first-principles calculations.
- Received 3 April 2008
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.77.233302
©2008 American Physical Society