Epitaxial growth and interfacial structure of Sn on Si(1 1 1)-(7×7)

Room temperature stabilization of up to 3.5 ML epitaxial metastable α-Sn at the Si(1 1 1)-(7×7) surface is reported. The α-Sn layers remain stabilized at the interface even after the deposition of thick Sn layers that undergo the α-Sn→β-Sn transformation. Additionally, a small decrease in the s-electron density at the 119Sn nucleus is found for submonolayer of Sn at the Sn/Si(1 1 1)-(7×7) interface. The epitaxial relationship between thick β-Sn layers on Si(1 1 1) is also shown. The results were obtained by low and high energy electron diffraction and 119Sn conversion electron Mössbauer spectroscopy.