Abstract
The heteroepitaxial growth of Ag on Si(111)—(7×7) is strongly affected by the surface reconstruction, which introduces additional constraints into the motion of deposited atoms. To characterize the processes and parameters crucial for growth, we study Ag/Si(111)—(7×7) heteroepitaxy from nucleation up to coverages of a few monolayers. The experimental results obtained by scanning tunneling microscopy are interpreted using a coarse-grained kinetic Monte Carlo model. The attempt frequency and the barrier to hopping of a single Ag atom between half-unit cells (HUCs) are estimated. Erom our experiments and simulations we infer the existence of a non-thermal post-deposition mobility of Ag atoms and a stable configuration of 6 Ag atoms in a HUC. The morphology of the wetting layer and the three-dimensional island density during further Stranski-Krastanov growth at various temperatures are discussed.
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