Novel (115) faceting induced by Sr adsorbed on Si(114)-2 x 1 with subsurface C

The Sr-induced structural evolution of Si(114)-2 x 1, through depositing SrF2 on the reconstructed surface held at 800 degrees C, has been investigated by scanning tunneling microscopy. By submonolayer of adsorbed Sr atoms, any well-defined facet besides (113) has not been formed on the clean Si(114)-2 x 1 surface, while a well-ordered and sawtooth-like structure composed of a (113) facet and its compensating (115) facet has been formed on Si(114)-2 x 1 with subsurface C atoms. Such a contrasting result is due to the stress-compensating mechanism between adsorbed Sr atoms and subsurface C atoms making the (115) facet stable. From the present studies, it has been confirmed that a stable and sawtooth-like structure covering the whole surface can be formed by modulating the surface stress even if the high-index surface does not have a pair of stable facets near the direction of the substrate. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.