Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 19, 2026

3D Depth Profile Reconstruction of Segregated Impurities Using Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry
Published on: April 29, 2020
Nanoscale pit formation at 2D Ge layers on Si: influence of energy and entropy
Konstantin Romanyuk1, Jacek Brona, Bert Voigtländer
1Institute of Bio- and Nanosystems (IBN-3) and JARA-Fundamentals of Future Information Technology, Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52425 Jülich, Germany.
Abstract:
The structural stability of two-dimensional (2D) SiGe nanostructures is studied by scanning tunneling microscopy. The formation of pits with a diameter of 2-30 nm in one atomic layer thick Ge stripes is observed. The unanticipated pit formation occurs due to an energetically driven motion of the Ge atoms out of the Ge stripe towards the Si terminated step edge followed by an entropy driven GeSi intermixing at the step edge. Using conditions where the pits coalesce results in the formation of freestanding 8 nm wide GeSi wires on Si(111).
Related Concept Videos
Entropy
Third Law of Thermodynamics
Energy Bands in Solids
Band Formation:
When atoms are brought close together, as in a solid, these discrete energy levels begin to split due to the overlap of electron orbitals from adjacent atoms. This split occurs because of the Pauli exclusion principle, which states that no two...
Entropy and Solvation
Trends in Lattice Energy: Ion Size and Charge
Lattice Energies of Ionic Crystals

