Role of surface steps in the arrangement of silicon nano-dots on a vicinal Si(111) surface: Scanning tunneling microscopy investigation

The role of surface steps in the arrangement of silicon nano-dots on a vicinal Si(111) surface was investigated using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). Silicon nano-dots were formed on Si(111) surfaces using thermal nitridation followed by oxygen-induced selective etching of silicon area using silicon nitride islands as masks. The results show that the silicon nitride islands grow on the single height step edges which give rise to the arrangement of silicon dots along the step edges upon successive oxygen-induced etching of silicon surface.