Growth of Atomically Flat Ultra-Thin Ag Films on Si(111) by Introducing a √3×√3-Ga Buffer Layer
HE Jie-Hui1**, JIANG Li-Qun1, QIU Jing-Lan2, CHEN Lan2, WU Ke-Hui2
1Department of Information Science and Engineering, Hunan University of Humanities, Science and Technology, Loudi 417000 2Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190
Abstract：It is known that, when Ag is deposited on Si(111)-7×7 substrates in a conventional growth procedure at room temperature, no atomically flat Ag film could be obtained. We use scanning tunneling microscopy and low-energy electron diffraction to investigate the growth of ultra-thin Ag films on the Si(111) substrates at room temperature. Our study reveals that, upon introducing a Si(111)-√3×√3-Ga buffer layer, atomically flat Ag films can easily grow on Si(111) with a critical thickness of two monolayers. Moreover, Ag film growth follows a layer-by-layer mode with further deposition. This novel growth behavior of Ag can be explained in terms of a free electron model (i.e., particle in a box) and kinetic Monte Carlo simulations.
2014, Vol. 31 
