Switching between one and two dimensions: Conductivity of Pb-induced chain structures on Si(557)

Abstract

We show in a combined study of four-point conductance measurement and tunneling microscopy that surface state conductance induced by one monolayer of Pb on Si(557) can be quasi one dimensional with conductivity values close to typical three-dimensional metals. At a critical temperature of Tc=78K, associated with an order-disorder phase transition and a tenfold superperiodicity along the Pb chains, the system switches from low to high conductance anisotropy, with a semiconductor-insulator transition in the direction perpendicular to the chain structure, while along the chains conductance with a (1/T+const) temperature dependence was found. © 2005 The American Physical Society.