Competition between thermally activated and tip-induced hopping of indium atoms on Si(100)

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Competition between thermally activated and tip-induced hopping of indium atoms on Si(100)

Martin Setvín, Jakub Javorský, Zsolt Majzik, Pavel Sobotík, Pavel Kocán, and Ivan Ošt’ádal

Phys. Rev. B 85, 081403(R) – Published 15 February 2012

Abstract

The adsorption and dynamics of single indium atoms on a Si(100) surface were studied by means of scanning tunneling microscopy in a temperature range from 30 to 130 K. Single In adatoms are strongly influenced by a tip-surface interaction which is proportional to the tunneling current. The surface hopping of the In adatoms was recorded and conditions minimizing the tip-surface interaction were investigated. The activation energies and frequency prefactors for thermally activated hopping were calculated from a temperature dependence of lifetimes of In adatoms in adsorption positions.

Received 29 November 2011

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.85.081403

Authors & Affiliations

Martin Setvín^1,2, Jakub Javorský^1,2, Zsolt Majzik², Pavel Sobotík¹, Pavel Kocán¹, and Ivan Ošt’ádal¹

¹Department of Surface and Plasma Science, Charles University, V Holešovičkách 2, CZ-180 00 Prague 8, Czech Republic
²Institute of Physics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Cukrovarnická 10, CZ-162 00 Prague, Czech Republic

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Issue

Vol. 85, Iss. 8 — 15 February 2012

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Physical Review B

covering condensed matter and materials physics