We demonstrate that annealing of a vicinal Si(111) surface at about 800 C with a direct current in the direction that ascends the kinks enhances the formation of atomically straight step edges over micrometer lengths, while annealing with a current in the opposite direction does not. Every straight step edge has the same atomic configuration U(2,0), which is useful as a template for the formation of a variety of nanostructures. A phenomenological model based on electromigration of charged mobile atoms explains the observed current-polarity dependent behavior.
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0507232,
title = {Atomically straight steps on vicinal Si (111) surfaces prepared by step-parallel current in the kink-up direction},
author = {S. Yoshida and T. Sekiguchi and K. M. Itoh},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0507232},
year = {2007}
}
Comments
Accepted for publication in Appl. Phys. Lett. Numbers of pages and figures are 12 and 4, respectively