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O: Fachverband Oberflächenphysik

O 15: Nanostructures at surfaces: Dots, particles, clusters, arrays I

O 15.1: Talk

Monday, March 14, 2011, 15:00–15:15, WIL C107

Formation of rare earth silicide clusters on Si(111)7x7 — •Martin Franz, Monir Rychetsky, Stephan Appelfeller, and Mario Dähne — Institut für Festkörperphysik, Technische Universität Berlin, Hardenbergstr. 36, D-10623 Berlin, Germany

Magic clusters on surfaces are of high interest because of their fascinating quantum properties and their possible application in future nanodevices. Here, the formation process as well as the structural and electronic properties of dysprosium silicide clusters on the Si(111)7x7 surface were studied using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). The dysprosium silicide clusters were grown by molecular beam epitaxy using the 7x7 reconstructed Si(111) surface as a template for cluster formation using submonolayer metal coverages and moderate annealing temperatures. It was found that the clusters grow self-organized preferentially on the faulted halves of the 7x7 unit cells, and a variety of cluster shapes could be observed. At appropriate growth conditions, the formation of magic clusters, which appear centered on the 7x7 half unit cells, could be achieved. This project was supported by the DFG through FOR 1282.