Real-time scanning tunnelling microscopy of Au+ ion irradiation effects at a high-temperature Si surface was performed. Sequential scanning tunnelling microscopic images of a Si(111)-7 x 7 surface at 500C were obtained before, during and after 3keV Au+ ion bombardment. Vacancy islands, which were two-dimensional clusters of surface vacancies, and 5x2-Au structures were formed on the sample surface, and their sizes changed during heat treatment following ion bombardment. This permitted the numbers of vacancies and Au atoms on the surface to be counted exactly by measuring the sizes of vacancy islands and 5x2-Au reconstructions. The time-scale of the growth of the 5x2-Au domains suggested that the implanted Au atoms diffused to the surface almost without interacting with point defects induced by the bombardment.

Real-Time Scanning Tunneling Microscopy Observation of Si(111) Surface Modified by Au+ Ion Irradiation. T.Kamioka, K.Sato, Y.Kazama, I.Ohdomari, T.Watanabe: Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, 2010, 49[1], 015702