Atomic nanowires on the Pt/Ge(001) surface: buried Pt-Ge versus top Pt-Pt chains.
Combining total-energy calculations, electronic-structure studies, and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), we demonstrate that the observed one-dimensional nanowires are composed of Pt-induced Ge structures instead of Pt chains. Pt-Ge bonds are favored versus Pt-Pt ones. The novel tetramer-dimer-chain model explains STM features and the differential conductivity. The conduction path is related to the chain of alternating Pt-Ge atoms.
Institut für Festkörpertheorie and -Optik, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität and European Theoretical Spectroscopy Facility (ETSF), Jena, Germany.
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Stekolnikov
F
F
Bechstedt
M
M
Wisniewski
J
J
Schäfer
R
R
Claessen