Ag chains deposited onto silicon steps studied by Tight-Binding

This study shows the properties of small chains of Ag atoms deposited onto monolayer steps on Si(1 0 0). Complex aspects of these structures are the low symmetry of the step, which is dealt with difficulty with a supercell, and the heterogeneous interactions between Ag and Si. The aim of the calculations is twofold. On one side, the results illustrate properties of an Ag/Si system so far absent from the current literature. On the other side, the comparison with other methods based on the Density Functional Theory shows the good performance of the simple Tight-Binding Hamiltonian.