Analysis of the Sn chain length fluctuations on Si(100) 2 x 1: An extraction of microscopic parameters
Abstrakt
Tin chains grown on the Si(100) 2 x 1 surface were studied by scanning tunneling microscopy. Real time measurements were used for recording chain length fluctuations in a temperature range from 310 to 350 K.
The recorded data were analyzed by means of a statistical model containing both interfering processes observed at a chain termination-random attachment and detachment of metal atoms. Rates of the both processes were calculated from lifetimes of two different chain terminations (monomer or dimer) by means of derived formulas.
The activation energies for the detachment and frequency prefactors were calculated from dependence of the corresponding time constants on temperature in an Arrhenius plot. A similar approach was used for characterization of binding Sn atoms on C-type defects which represent preferential adsorption sites.