Unidirectional Pt silicide nanowires grown on vicinal Si(100).

We investigated the structure and electronic properties of unidirectional Pt(2)Si nanowires (NWs) grown on a Si(100)-2 degrees off surface. We found that Pt(2)Si NWs were formed along the step edges of the Si(100)-2 degrees off surface with c(4x6) reconstructions that occurred on the terraces of Si(100) using scanning tunneling microscopy and the structure of formed NWs was found to be Pt(2)Si by core-level photoemission spectroscopy. Moreover, we confirmed that the electronic band structures of the NWs along the NW direction are different from those perpendicular to the NWs and the surface state induced by the Pt(2)Si NWs was observed with a small density of state using the angle-resolved photoemission spectra.

Bond character of thiophene on Ge(100): Effects of coverage and temperature.

We have studied the adsorption and decomposition of thiophene (C4H4S) on Ge(100) using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), high-resolution core-level photoemission spectroscopy (HRPES), and density functional theory (DFT) calculation. Analysis of S 2p core-level spectra reveals three adsorption geometries, which we assign to a Ge-S dative bonding state, a [4 + 2] cycloaddition bonding state, and a decomposed bonding state (desulfurization reaction product). Furthermore, we found that the number ratio of the three adsorption geometries depended on the molecular coverage and the annealing temperature. At low coverages, the kinetically favorable dative bonding state is initially formed at room temperature. As the molecular coverage increases, thermodynamically stable [4 + 2] cycloaddition reaction products are additionally produced. In addition, we found that as the surface temperature increased, the [4 + 2] cycloaddition reaction product either possibly desorbed as molecular thiophene or decomposed to form a metallocycle-like species (C4H4Ge2) and a sulfide (Ge2S). We systematically elucidate the changes in the bonding states of adsorbed thiophene on Ge(100) according to the thiophene coverage and annealing temperature.

Self-induced 1-D molecular chain growth of thiophene on Ge(100).

The adsorption of thiophene on Ge(100) has been studied using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), high-resolution core-level photoemission spectroscopy (HRPES), and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Until now, thiophene is known to react with the Ge(100) dimer through a [4 + 2] cycloaddition reaction at room temperature, similar to the case of thiophene on Si(100). However, we found that thiophene has two adsorption geometries on Ge(100) at room temperature, such as a kinetically favorable Ge-S dative bonding configuration and a thermodynamically stable [4 + 2] cycloaddition adduct. Moreover, our STM results show that under 0.25 ML thiophene molecules preferentially produce one-dimensional molecular chain structures on Ge(100) via the Ge-S dative bonding configuration.

Self-assembled monolayers on Pt(111): molecular packing structure and strain effects observed by scanning tunneling microscopy.

Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of octanethiol and benzeneethanethiol were deposited on clean Pt(111) surfaces in ultrahigh vacuum (UHV). Highly resolved images of these SAMs produced by an in situ scanning tunneling microscope (STM) showed that both systems organize into a super-structure mosaic of domains of locally ordered, closely packed molecules. Analysis of the STM images indicated a (square root 3 x square root 3)R30 degrees unit cell for the octanethiol SAMs and a 4(square root 3 x square root 3)R30 degrees periodicity based on 2 x 2 basic molecular packing for the benzeneethanethiol SAMs under the coverage conditions investigated. SAMs on Pt(111) exhibited differences in molecular packing and a lower density of disordered regions than SAMs on Au(111). Electron transport measurements were performed using scanning tunneling spectroscopy. Benzeneethanethiol/Pt(111) junctions exhibited a higher conductance than octanethiol/Pt(111) junctions.