Large-Area Parallel Ce Silicide Nanowire Array Self-Organized on Si(110) ``16 \times 2'' Template

We present a large-scale self-organization of highly integrated parallel arrays, consisting of uniformly spaced epitaxial Ce silicide nanowires on a single-domain Si(110) "16 ×2" surface. Our scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy studies show that each atomically regular Ce silicide nanowire comprises two semiconducting zigzag chains with different atomic structures. The possible origin of this semiconducting behavior is discussed. This large-area self-organization of the ultrahigh-density parallel Ce silicide nanowire array by using a single-domain Si(110) "16 ×2" nanotemplate can be employed as a simple and versatile method to achieve rational nanofabrication of other rare-earth silicide nanowire arrays for a broad range of device applications.