Strain relief guided novel growth of atomic nanowires in a Cu3N-Cu(110) molecular network

X. D. Ma (1) , D. I. Bazhanov (1) , Olivier Fruchart (2) , F. Yildiz (1) , T. Yokoyama (3) , M. Przybylski (1) , V. S. Stepanyuk (1) , W. Hergert (4) , J. Kirschner (1)

1 MPI-HALLE - Max-Planck-Institut für Mikrostrukturphysik
2 NEEL - MNM - Micro et NanoMagnétisme
3 Institute for Molecular Science
4 MLU - Martin-Luther-Universität Halle Wittenberg

A self-corrugated Cu3N-Cu(110) molecular network shows potential to overcome the element dependence barrier as demonstrated by epitaxial growth of atomic nanowires (1 nm in width) among various 3d, 4d, and 5d elements. Scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) shows that all of the investigated atomic nanowires share an identical structure, featuring uniform width, height, orientation and same minimum separation distance. Ab initio study reveals that the formation mechanism of atomic nanowires can be directly attributed to a strain relief guided asymmetric occupation of atoms on the originally symmetric crest zone of the corrugated network.

Domains: Materials Science [cond-mat.mtrl-sci]

X. D. Ma, D. I. Bazhanov, Olivier Fruchart, F. Yildiz, T. Yokoyama, et al.. Strain relief guided novel growth of atomic nanowires in a Cu3N-Cu(110) molecular network. Physical Review Letters, 2009, 102, pp.205503. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.205503⟩. ⟨hal-00378769⟩