Control of homoepitaxial Si nanostructures by locally modified surface reactivity

We describe a technique for the homoepitaxial growth of epitaxial, faceted Si islands on Si(001), consisting of predeposition of Ga surfactant followed by ultrahigh vacuum chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of Si. Ga-mediated Si CVD leads to the formation of Si islands exhibiting {113} and {102} facets. Surfactant-mediated CVD is shown to provide a new degree of freedom for the production of nanoscale structures without lithography. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.