Selective growth of nano-scaled islands*

To grow nano-scaled structures in designated regions on surfaces is essential to the success of nanotechnology. Here we demonstrate a scheme offering the opportunity of selectively growing nano-scaled islands in selected regions of a surface. By depositing sub-monolayer of Au onto a nominally flat Si(111) surface, we constructed a surface consisting of two structurally different domains: the (5×2)/Au and the (7×7) domain. We then deposited up to 0.3 monolayers of Co at room temperature followed by annealing at an elevated temperature. The resultant surface structure shows, only on (5×2)/Au domains, the growth of islands with narrow size distribution.