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Atomic Step Formation on Sapphire Surface in Ultra-precision Manufacturing

Surfaces with controlled atomic step structures as substrates are highly relevant to desirable performances of materials grown on them, such as light emitting diode (LED) epitaxial layers, nanotubes and nanoribbons. However, very limited attention has been paid to the step formation in manufacturing...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Wang, Rongrong, Guo, Dan, Xie, Guoxin, Pan, Guoshun
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4957212/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27444267
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep29964
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author Wang, Rongrong
Guo, Dan
Xie, Guoxin
Pan, Guoshun
author_facet Wang, Rongrong
Guo, Dan
Xie, Guoxin
Pan, Guoshun
author_sort Wang, Rongrong
collection PubMed
description Surfaces with controlled atomic step structures as substrates are highly relevant to desirable performances of materials grown on them, such as light emitting diode (LED) epitaxial layers, nanotubes and nanoribbons. However, very limited attention has been paid to the step formation in manufacturing process. In the present work, investigations have been conducted into this step formation mechanism on the sapphire c (0001) surface by using both experiments and simulations. The step evolutions at different stages in the polishing process were investigated with atomic force microscopy (AFM) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The simulation of idealized steps was constructed theoretically on the basis of experimental results. It was found that (1) the subtle atomic structures (e.g., steps with different sawteeth, as well as steps with straight and zigzag edges), (2) the periodicity and (3) the degree of order of the steps were all dependent on surface composition and miscut direction (step edge direction). A comparison between experimental results and idealized step models of different surface compositions has been made. It has been found that the structure on the polished surface was in accordance with some surface compositions (the model of single-atom steps: Al steps or O steps).
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spelling pubmed-49572122016-07-26 Atomic Step Formation on Sapphire Surface in Ultra-precision Manufacturing Wang, Rongrong Guo, Dan Xie, Guoxin Pan, Guoshun Sci Rep Article Surfaces with controlled atomic step structures as substrates are highly relevant to desirable performances of materials grown on them, such as light emitting diode (LED) epitaxial layers, nanotubes and nanoribbons. However, very limited attention has been paid to the step formation in manufacturing process. In the present work, investigations have been conducted into this step formation mechanism on the sapphire c (0001) surface by using both experiments and simulations. The step evolutions at different stages in the polishing process were investigated with atomic force microscopy (AFM) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The simulation of idealized steps was constructed theoretically on the basis of experimental results. It was found that (1) the subtle atomic structures (e.g., steps with different sawteeth, as well as steps with straight and zigzag edges), (2) the periodicity and (3) the degree of order of the steps were all dependent on surface composition and miscut direction (step edge direction). A comparison between experimental results and idealized step models of different surface compositions has been made. It has been found that the structure on the polished surface was in accordance with some surface compositions (the model of single-atom steps: Al steps or O steps). Nature Publishing Group 2016-07-22 /pmc/articles/PMC4957212/ /pubmed/27444267 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep29964 Text en Copyright © 2016, Macmillan Publishers Limited http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
spellingShingle Article
Wang, Rongrong
Guo, Dan
Xie, Guoxin
Pan, Guoshun
Atomic Step Formation on Sapphire Surface in Ultra-precision Manufacturing
title Atomic Step Formation on Sapphire Surface in Ultra-precision Manufacturing
title_full Atomic Step Formation on Sapphire Surface in Ultra-precision Manufacturing
title_fullStr Atomic Step Formation on Sapphire Surface in Ultra-precision Manufacturing
title_full_unstemmed Atomic Step Formation on Sapphire Surface in Ultra-precision Manufacturing
title_short Atomic Step Formation on Sapphire Surface in Ultra-precision Manufacturing
title_sort atomic step formation on sapphire surface in ultra-precision manufacturing
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4957212/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27444267
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep29964
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