Downsizing functional devices has become increasingly important in the research of nanoscale materials on solid surfaces. Our laboratory aims to understand surface structures on an atomic scale in order to design and fabricate functional surface new materials and to characterize the properties of these materials. We are analyzing surface structures by low-energy electron diffraction (LEED), observing the changes in the surface structures by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), and investigating the surface electron states by synchrotron radiation induced photoelectron spectroscopy.Our research interests include:

• Structural analysis and property measurement of new surface materials formed by heterogeneous atoms deposited on surfaces such as metal silicides formed on silicon surfaces and ordered surface alloys on metals
• STM observations of the formation processes of new surface materials on an atomic scale
• Development of new techniques for structural analysis of surface nanoareas and atomic characterization of properties and reactivities
• Changes in the surface structures due to electronic excitation.The figure shows a low-temperature LEED system with cooling temperature 20 K(left), a Si(001) surface LEED pattern (upper right), and its structural model (lower right).