Scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy studies of self assembled sub 10 nm copper-silicide nanostructures on Si(110)

Self assembled Cu₃Si nanoislands and nanowires on Si(110) were fabricated with electron beam evaporation in ultra high vacuum while annealing the substrate at 600°C. Scanning tunneling microscopy technique was used to study the resultant nanostructures of sub 10 nm size. Surface images of a nanoisland and nanowire were obtained. The former showed evidence of single crystalline structures. The length, width, and height dimensions of the nanoisland and nanowire were ~100 nm × 30 nm × 6 nm and 75 nm × 12.5 nm × 3 nm, respectively. Scanning tunneling spectroscopy on both the nanostructures performed to obtain their local density of states. Both nanostructures did not exhibit metallic behavior.