| Authors: | Danny E. P. Vanpoucke |
| Journal: | Belgian Physical Society Magazine 3, 11-16 (2011) |
| (Featured Article for the BΦ) | |
| pdf: | <local> |
Abstract
The deposition of small amounts of platinum on a germanium (001) surface gives rise to the formation of monatomic nanowires. These nanowires are defect–and kink-free and their length is only limited by the underlying terrace, to which they are uniquely connected. Using ab initio calculations and simulated scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) images we model these nanowires, and show them to consist of germanium atoms, in contrast to earlier proposed models.