A novel high temperature scanning tunneling microscope for investigating semiconductor surfaces

The issues concerning the description of structural and dynamic features at the nanometer scale has become an active field of research in surface science. The development of the scanning tunneling microscope (STM) has begun only recently to contribute substantially in this effort. For this dissertation project, the author has designed, constructed, and utilized a high temperature ultra high vacuum STM (HT-UHV-STM) for investigating semiconducting surfaces from room temperature to 790°C. In order to isolate the instrument from external noise, the author has developed and demonstrated a novel method of approaching decoupled passive magnetic levitation for vibration isolation. Using advanced magnet technology currently available, this isolation method could achieve resonance frequencies as low as 10−3 Hz for levitation pressures as high as several MPa in a single stage. The instrument has been used to study the clean Si(111) surface at high temperatures. The electromigration phenomenon has been utilized to modify the surface steps and produce metastable reconstruction zones of the “1 x 1” phase and 5 x 5 islands. The growth of the thermodynamically favored 7 x 7 reconstruction has been observed at high temperatures within these metastable phases. The production of nanostructures on the surface by the tip of the STM has been achieved and their thermal relaxation observed and analyzed. Several new observations include the appearance of periodic oscillations in the number of Si atoms constituting each of a pair of 5 x 5 magic islands, imaging of local melting and apparent sputtering of the surface by the tip, and the spontaneous formation of clusters by heat treatment.