The membrane is then transferred to the TEM grid with a micromanipulator. Composition of strained SiGe NWs is probed by Raman spectroscopy and imaging (WITec Alpha300R, WITec Wissenschaftliche, Ulm, Germany) using 532-nm-laser excitation. Results and discussion Characterization of substrate defects after the sputtering procedure Although the majority of

atomic-scale STM studies on the Ge(001) face have been performed on surfaces prepared by the ion-sputtering-based process [11], investigations of the mesoscale surface structure AZD6244 supplier after sputtering are, instead, rather scattered. Nonetheless, the very peculiar orientational dependence of surface energy of Ge, with the major (001) and the (111) faces being almost Fosbretabulin solubility dmso equally stable [12], suggests the appearance of a non-trivial surface morphology with the ion-sputtering process. Figure  1 shows large-scale optical microscopy images of the Ge(001) surface after 4 cycles of sputtering/annealing following the procedure described in the experimental section. Figure 1 Optical microscopy. Optical microscopy images (a , b) of the Ge(001) surface after 4 sputtering/annealing cycles. As evident, flat areas alternate with regular pits having square or rectangular shape. High-resolution SEM and AFM images displayed in Figure  2 reveal that pits are bounded by well-defined facets and indeed appear as inverted square pyramids and elongated huts.

Moreover, from a statistical examination of AFM scans, it can be inferred that the lateral facets of the pits have a dominant 111 orientation. This distinct faceting can be readily visualized by applying an image-analysis tool known as facet plot (FP) to AFM images [13]. It consists of a two-dimensional histogram displaying the component of the surface gradient on the horizontal and vertical axes: Faceting thus produces well-defined spots in the FP. In Protein kinase N1 the case of the histograms shown in the insets of Figure  2f,g, the four major spots correspond to a polar

angle of approximately 55° from the (001) plane, i.e., to 111 faces. 111-faceting is also confirmed by cross-sectional TEM measurements (Figure  3a). Figure 2 Pit faceting. (a, b, c,d) SEM images of the pits forming on the Ge(001) surface after 4 sputtering/annealing cycles. (e, f, g) AFM images showing the pit morphology. In the insets of (f) and (g), the FPs of the corresponding images are shown. Figure 3 TEM microscopy. Cross-sectional TEM images showing: (a) a pit and (b) Ge wires grown inside a polishing-induced trench. The topmost black layer is the protective Pt film deposited for FIB cross-sectioning. The observed extended 111 faceting can be explained by the surface roughening induced by the sputtering process: This produces a variety of unstable surface orientations which, during the subsequent annealing, collapse into the closest stable crystal face.