Adsorbate induced manipulation of 1D atomic wires: Degradation of long-range order in the Si(553)-Au system

Deposition of Au on vicinal Si(553) surfaces results in the self-assembly of one-dimensional (1D) Au atomic wires. Charge transfer from the Au wire to the Si step edge leads to a chain of Si dangling-bond orbitals with a long range ordered threefold periodicity along the steps and finite interchain interaction perpendicular to the steps. Employing spot-profile analysis low-energy electron diffraction (SPA-LEED) we observed a broadening of spot width with time, indicative for the degradation of Si dangling-bond chain and Au wire length. We introduce a new mechanism how adsorbates act as origin for this degradation beyond the intuitive picture of bond saturation. Here, zero-dimensional anti-phase translational domain boundaries are generated which immediately destroy the long-range order along and perpendicular to the steps, respectively. From the temporal evolution of the decreasing coherence length, we conclude that the Au wires are less reactive to adsorption than the Si dangling bond chains.