Highly Stable Si Atomic Line Formation on the<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mi>β</mml:mi></mml:math>-SiC(100) Surface

Abstract

We use scanning tunneling microscopy to evidence the controlled formation of straight, very long, and highly stable Si atomic lines self-organizing on the $\ensuremath{\beta}\ensuremath{-}\mathrm{SiC}(100)$ surface. These atomic channels, which are composed of Si dimers, form at the phase transition between the $3\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}2$ and $c(4\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}2)$ reconstructions by selective Si atom organization. The presence of Si atomic lines is found to coincide systematically with a lateral mismatch between the $c(4\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}2)$ Si-dimer rows. Their number and spacing are mediated by annealing time and temperature, resulting in unprecedented arrangements ranging from a very large superlattice to a single isolated atomic line.