Evolution of kinetically controlled In-induced surface structure on Si(5 5 7) surface

Highlights: • Evolution of In induced superstructures on Si(5 5 7) surface during RT and HT adsorption/desorption process. • Kinetics is governed by substrate temperature which exhibits various growth modes (FM, SK, VB) under different conditions. • Strain relaxation play significant role in the commencement of desorption/rearrangement of atoms. • A consolidated phase diagram of In/Si(5 5 7) interface has been reported with new √3 × √3-R30° and 4 × 1 phases. - Abstract: This paper introduces issue of kinetically controlled and temperature driven superstructural phase transition of Indium (In) on atomically clean high index Si(5 5 7)-7 × 1 surface. Auger electron spectroscopy analysis reveals that at room-temperature (RT) with a controlled incident flux of 0.002 ML/s; In overlayers evolve through the Frank-van der Merwe growth mode and yield a (1 × 1) diffraction pattern for coverage ≥1 ML. For substrate temperature <500°C, growth of In follows Stranski–Krastanov growth mode while for temperature >500°C island growth is observed. On annealing the In/Si(5 5 7) interface in the temperature range 250–340°C, clusters to two dimensional (2D) layer transformation on top of a stable monolayer is predominated. In-situ RT and HT adsorption and thermal desorption phenomena revealed the formation of coverage and temperature dependent thermally stable In induced superstructural phases such as (4 × 1) at 0.5 ML (520°C), (√3 × √3-R30°) at 0.3 ML (560°C) and (7 × 7) at 0.1 ML (580°C). These indium induced superstructures could be utilized as potential substrate for the growth of various exotic 1D/2D structures