Nonequilibrium behavior of the Pb wetting layer on Si(111)7×7

M. W. Gramlich, S. T. Hayden, Yiyao Chen, C. Kim, E. H. Conrad, M. C. Tringides, and P. F. Miceli
Phys. Rev. B 84, 075433 – Published 8 August 2011

Abstract

The growth and stability of the Pb8×8 wetting layer on Si(111)7×7, which provides a foundation for growing quantum-size-effect nanocrystals, was investigated by in situ x-ray scattering. Our experimental results reveal that the wetting-layer structure evolves temporally over a remarkably broad range of temperatures and that there are two distinct temperature regimes of nonequilibrium behavior. When grown at lower temperature (below 170 C), it was discovered that the wetting-layer structure changes with time, indicating that its disordered structure is not static; annealing in this regime improves the order of the wetting layer. Growth at higher temperature (170 C < T < 250 C), however, leads to a time-dependent degradation of the 8×8 structure due to the deterioration of the underlying Si(111)7×7. Thermal measurements determined an activation energy of 0.4 eV in the low-temperature regime, whereas in the high-temperature regime, a two-step process is observed, which has activation energies of approximately 1.3 and 1.9 eV. The results provide important considerations for understanding the anomalous kinetic behavior of quantum-size-effect Pb nanocrystals on Si(111)7×7, which is facilitated by the wetting layer.

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  • Received 22 November 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.84.075433

©2011 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

M. W. Gramlich1, S. T. Hayden1, Yiyao Chen1, C. Kim2, E. H. Conrad3, M. C. Tringides4, and P. F. Miceli1

  • 1Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, Missouri 65211, USA
  • 2Department of Physics and Research Institute for Basic Sciences, Kyung Hee University, 1 Hoeki-dong, Dongdaemoon-gu, Seoul 130-701, Korea
  • 3The Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0430, USA
  • 4Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011, USA

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Issue

Vol. 84, Iss. 7 — 15 August 2011

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