Adsorption of Sn on Si(111)7 × 7: reconstructions in the monolayer regime

Different monolayer phases of Sn on Si(111)7 × 7 have been studied by means of scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), core-level photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS). The STM results show that 3 × 3 reconstructions are obtained for room-temperature deposition of 1 3 ML of Sn followed by sample annealing in a broad temperature range. A T 4 Sn adatom 3 ×3 phase is formed for temperatures between 500 and 800°C, with a concentration of defects that is strongly dependent on the temperature and which is as high as 25% for the lowest temperatures. Above 825°C a second 3×3 adatom reconstruction is formed, a mosaic-like phase with a 1:1 mixture of Si and Sn atoms in T 4 positions. The results from investigations of the higher coverage 2 3 × 2 3 reconstruction by XPS and RBS support the theory that this phase is a two-layer epitaxial Sn structure with all Si(111) dangling bonds saturated. The Sn coverage for this phase was determined to be between 1 and 1.2 ML.