Boronizing structures of Si(1 1 3) surfaces

With the help of scanning tunneling microscopy observations and first-principles calculations, we demonstrate that B preferential occupation at self-interstitial sites of Si(1 1 3) induces 3 × 1:B surfaces made up of adatoms and interstitial pentamers. The B atoms may serve as adatoms, while the interstitial pentamers may be boronized with different numbers of B atoms owing to the self-interstitial effects of B atoms. Our findings indicate that a Si(1 1 3) surface may be doped with B to an extremely high level.