Controlled Self-Organization of Atom Vacancies in Monatomic Gallium Layers

P. C. Snijders, E. J. Moon, C. González, S. Rogge, J. Ortega, F. Flores, and H. H. Weitering

Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 116102 – Published 14 September 2007

Abstract

Ga adsorption on the Si(112) surface results in the formation of pseudomorphic Ga atom chains. Compressive strain in these atom chains is relieved via creation of adatom vacancies and their self-organization into meandering vacancy lines. The average spacing between these line defects can be controlled, within limits, by adjusting the chemical potential $μ$ of the Ga adatoms. We derive a lattice model that quantitatively connects density functional theory (DFT) calculations for perfectly ordered structures with the fluctuating disorder seen in experiment and the experimental control parameter $μ$ . This hybrid approach of lattice modeling and DFT can be applied to other examples of line defects in heteroepitaxy.

Received 10 May 2007

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.116102

Authors & Affiliations

P. C. Snijders^1,*, E. J. Moon², C. González³, S. Rogge¹, J. Ortega³, F. Flores³, and H. H. Weitering^2,4

¹Kavli Institute of NanoScience Delft, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CJ Delft, The Netherlands*
²Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996, USA
³Departamento de Física Teórica de la Materia Condensada, Universidad Autónoma, 28049 Madrid, Spain
⁴Materials Science and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA

^*Electronic address: snijderspc@ornl.gov Present address: Materials Science and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA

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Vol. 99, Iss. 11 — 14 September 2007

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