Epitaxial growth of manganese silicide nanowires on Si(111)-7×7 surfaces

Reactive epitaxial growth of manganese silicide on a Si(111)-7×7 surface at low coverage is studied using scanning tunneling microscopy. Besides tabular and three-dimensional islands observed previously on the Mn∕Si system, Mn silicide is found to form nanowires (NWs) on the Si(111)-7×7 surface at temperatures above ∼500°C. The NWs oriented along [101¯], [011¯], and [11¯0], three equivalent directions, with equal probability. Well-ordered atomic arrangement observed on an ultrafine NW indicates that the NWs are crystalline. Scanning tunneling spectroscopy measurements show that the NWs exhibit a semiconducting character with a band gap of ∼0.8eV, which is consistent with that of bulk MnSi1.7.

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