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Updated: Aug 21, 2026

Fabrication of Uniform Nanoscale Cavities via Silicon Direct Wafer Bonding
Published on: January 9, 2014
Formation of atom wires on vicinal silicon
C González1, P C Snijders, J Ortega
1Facultad de Ciencias, Departamento de Fisica Teorica de la Materia Condensada, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Madrid 28049, Spain.
Abstract:
The feasibility of creating atomic wires on vicinal silicon surfaces via pseudomorphic step-edge decoration has been analyzed for the case of Ga on Si(112). Scanning tunneling microscopy and density functional theory calculations indicate the formation of Ga zigzag chains intersected by quasiperiodic vacancy lines or "misfit dislocations." This structure strikes a balance between the system's drive towards chemical passivation and its need for strain relaxation in the atom chains. Spatially fluctuating disorder, intrinsic to the reconstruction, originates from the two symmetry-degenerate orientations of the zigzag chains on vicinal Si.
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