INTERFACE ROUGHENING IN SURFACTANT DEPOSITION

We report on a scanning tunneling microscopy study demonstrating silicon mass transport and the resulting roughening of the surface during Sb deposition on Si(111). It is found that small amounts of Sb, which cause the Sb-induced d-(7×7) reconstruction, lead to Si island formation due to the replacement of Si atoms by Sb. The succeeding adsorption of Sb causes formation of pits in addition to the islands, in parallel with the structural transition to a (2×1) or (3×3) reconstruction. The extent of the roughening is directly related to the changes of surface Si atom density induced by Sb adsorption. © 1994 American Institute of Physics.