A LEEM study of bamboo-like growth of Ag crystals on Si(0 0 1) surfaces

We report a low-energy electron microscopy study of novel bamboo-like (quasi-one-dimensional) growth during deposition of Ag on Si(0 0 1) surfaces at elevated temperatures. The bamboo crystals, with typical dimensions of 10 μm in length and varied height and width (tens to hundred of nanometers), align primarily along Si[1 1 0] or Si[1 −1 0] orientation. Low-energy electron microscopy imaging further demonstrates that the Ag bamboo crystals are initially stable against annealing, but break into segments upon prolonged annealing at 843 K. Possible growth mechanisms of the bamboo-like crystals are discussed.