Surface polymerization of epitaxial Sb wires on Si(001)

Abstract

Measurements of the local density of states of epitaxial antimony structures on Si(001) are reported and related to surface polymerization. Scanning tunneling spectroscopy was used to investigate the electronic structure of Sb4 clusters, Sb2 dimers, and short epitaxial Sb lines. We find these nanostructures of the semi-metal Sb on Si to be nonmetallic. The electronic structure in the center of the Sb line is similar to that of the Si surface. In contrast, the ends of the Sb lines show a finite density of states at the Fermi level. These observations are consistent with theoretical predictions for surface polymerization in similar systems.