Iridium silicide nanowires on Si(001) surfaces

An iridium (Ir) modified silicon (001) (Si(001)) surface is studied using low energy electron diffraction (LEED) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). The surface exhibits p(2???2) domains in LEED intensity images. The STM images show that the basis of the crystal lattice consists of an Ir atom and a Si dimer and, like Si(001) dimer rows, they are aligned parallel to the orthogonal [110] directions.