A spectroscopy and microscopy study of silicon nanoclusters grown on β-Si3N4(0 0 0 1)/Si(1 1 1) interface

Silicon has been grown on the (8 × 8)-reconstructed β-Si3N4(0 0 0 1) surface at 350 °C temperature. The pure Volmer-Weber growth mode has induced the formation of nano-sized silicon clusters randomly distributed on the surface. Synchrotron radiation photoelectron spectroscopy and scanning tunneling microscopy have been employed to study the system. A fit to the photoemission spectra, complemented by topographic information, has allowed us to assign each Si2p and N1s component to the different non equivalent sites of silicon and nitrogen atoms.