Influence of substrate temperature on submonolayer Au adsorption on an Si(111)-(7 × 7) surface studied by scanning tunneling microscopy

The influence of substrate temperature on the adsorption of submonolayer Au on an Si(111)-(7 × 7) surface was investigated using a scanning tunneling microscope. With a small amount of Au deposited at room temperature, Au atoms form small clusters located inside the half unit cells (HUCs) of the Si(111)-(7 × 7) surface while most parts of the surface are undisturbed. When the substrate temperature during deposition of the same Au amounts increases from room temperature up to 565 °C, the small Au clusters grow, coalesce into larger clusters, incorporate Si atoms, and finally form a (5 × 2) reconstruction. The Si(111)-(5 × 2)–Au reconstruction takes place in the form of island–hole pairs on a terrace, whereas only holes are formed in the upper terrace at a step. Both the islands and the holes display the (5 × 2) reconstruction. The occurrence of the island–hole pairs of the (5 × 2) reconstruction results from the fact that the Si atom density in the (5 × 2) reconstruction is lower than in the (7 × 7) reconstruction.

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