Adsorption of C60 onto Si(111)-(√3 x √3)-In surface presented a fascinating example of interplay between molecular adsorbate and surface structural defects. It was found that adsorbing C60 molecules were trapped by the substitutional Si-defects. In turn, the group of a few adsorbed C60 could act as a trap for the mobile vacancies of the (√3 x √3)-In reconstruction. Namely, adsorbed C60 induced strain into the indium layer, and when a mobile vacancy happened to get to the surface area surrounded by fullerenes, the In atoms between the C60 and the vacancy shifted from the T4 to the H3 sites, fixing a vacancy in a given location.

Interplay between Adsorbed C60 Fullerenes and Point Defects on a Si(111)√3 x √3-In Reconstructed Surface. D.V.Gruznev, A.V.Matetskiy, A.V.Zotov, A.A.Saranin, J.P.Chou, C.M.Wei, Y.L.Wang: Surface Science, 2011, 605[23-24], 2050-4