Electronic properties of clean and oxygen exposed GaAs (100) surfaces

Both Photoemission Yield Spectroscopy (PYS) and Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES) have been used in the study of the electronic properties of the clean GaAs(100) surface prepared by IBA procedure and subsequently exposed to oxygen. For the clean GaAs(100)c(8 × 2) surface, the values of the work function and the absolute band bending were 4.20 ± 0.02 eV and −0.23 ± 0.06 eV, respectively, which confirms the pinning of the Fermi level E_F, and two filled electronic surface state bands localized in the band gap below the Fermi level were observed. After exposition of this surface to 10³ L of oxygen, the electronic surface state band localized just below the Fermi level E_F disappeared, and the work function and the absolute band bending increased by only 0.12eV, whereas for the higher oxygen exposures of 10⁴L and 10⁵L, only small increases in the values of the work function and the absolute bending by 0.04 eV and 0.03 eV, respectively, were observed.     

Electron loss spectroscopy of clean and oxygen covered GaAs(110) surfaces

Electron energy loss spectra of clean and oxygen covered GaAs(110) surfaces have been measured with a four grid retarding field analyser. Loss spectra of clean cleaved p- and n-type surfaces are slightly different and different states of adsorption for the oxygen on the two surfaces are found. The loss peaks which are common in the spectra obtained from clean surfaces of both types of material have been interpreted in terms of bulk and surface excitations. The data associated with the bulk excitations are in good agreement with previous optical and electron transmission data while loss peaks at 11.5 and 18.5 eV are interpreted as the surface plasma loss and a surface state transition respectively. For n-type material extra loss peaks were observed. In the case of oxygen adsorption on these surfaces new loss peaks were found at 13.5, 17.2 and 28.1 eV in both spectra and are assumed to be characteristic of the oxygen. Further, for n-type material an extra peak occurs at 8.2 eV.     

Valence band photoemission from in-situ grown GaAs(100)-c(4 × 4)

The electron structure of GaAs(100)-c(4 × 4) has been studied by means of angular-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy for photon energies (20–40) eV. The sample was prepared by molecular beam epitaxy in-situ at the BL41 beamline of the MAX I storage ring of the Max-lab in Lund. Photon energy variation helped in separating dispersing bulk features from nondispersing surface features in the energy distribution curves recorded at normal emission. Two sets of peaks were related to bulk transitions from the two topmost E(k _⊥) branches of the valence band of GaAs and one more set came from the surface state in the center of the 2D Brillouin zone. Good agreement was found between experimental bulk dispersion branches and theoretical calculations based on realistic final state dispersion. The surface state peak, hardly visible at 20 and 22 eV photon excitations, gets clearly enhanced at higher excitation energies. In contrast to earlier measurements of this kind, two major differences have been found: (i) clearly developed surface state peak just below the top of the v alence band, (ii) absence of a large peak in the electron energy distribution at around −6.5eV below the valence band top. Presented at the X-th Symposium on Suface Physics, Prague, Czech Republic, July 11–15, 2005.     

The superstructures of the clean Pt(100) and Ir(100) surfaces

The clean and reconstructed surfaces of Pt(100) and Ir(100) were investigated by low energy electron diffraction (LEED). It is shown that two superstructures can be observed in the case of platinum. The structure Pt(100)-hex, which is commonly called Pt(100)-(5 × 20), transforms to Pt(100)-hex-R0.7° above 1100 K. It is shown that this stable phase differs from the first one by a slight rotation of the hexagonal surface layer by 0.7°. For Ir(100) only the well known (1 × 5) superstructure is observed without any rotation of the outer layer. The rotation angle of 0.7° for platinum and the stability of the unrelated structure for iridium can be interpreted by simple calculations of the coordination of surface atoms with those of the second layer. The method assumes that the surface layer is of ideal hexagonal structure in the case of platinum and nearly hexagonal in the case of iridium. The results are in good agreement with the experiment.     

Reflectometric study of surface states and oxygen adsorption on clean Si(100) and (110) surfaces

External differential reflection measurements were carried out on clean Si(100) and (110) surfaces in the photon energy range of 1.0 to 3.0 eV at 300 and 80 K. The results for Si(100) at 300 K showed two peaks in the joint density of states curve, which sharpened at 80 K. One peak at 3.0 ± 0.2 eV can be attributed to optical transitions from a filled surface states band near the top of the valence band to empty bulk conduction band levels. The other peak at 1.60 ± 0.05 eV may be attributed to transitions to an empty surface states band in the energy gap. This result favours the asymmetric dimer model for the Si(100) surface. For the (110) surface at 300 K only one peak was found at 3.0 ± 0.2 eV. At 80 K the peak height diminished by a factor of two. Oxygen adsorption in the submonolayer region on the clean Si(100) surface appeared to proceed in a similar way as on the Si(111) 7 × 7 surface. For the Si(110) surface the kinetics of the adsorption process at 80 K deviated clearly. The binding state of oxygen on this surface at 80 K appeared to be different from that on the same surface at 300 K.     

Oxygen adsorption on clean Mo (100) surfaces

Oxygen adsorption on clean Mo (100) surfaces has been studied by LEED, AES, work function changes and energy loss spectroscopy. At room temperature, the oxygen uptake as determined by AES is linear up to one third of the saturation value. Data obtained with CO adsorption have been used to determine the oxygen coverage. With increasing oxygen exposure LEED shows three stages: a c (2 × 2) phase growing simultaneously with a (6 × 2) structure, a stage with (110) microfacets covered by two-dimensional structures and finally a p (3×1) structure together with a p (1×1) structure, probably due to an oxide phase. Even in the low temperature range (370–500 K) remarkable effects are observed: adsorption at 370 K produces a disordered c (4×4) structure which is followed by a (√5 × √5)?R 26° 33 structure. The same occurs when the inital c (2 × 2) structure formed at 295 K is heated above 370 K. Measurements of the work function indicate a minimum at the end of the c (2×2) structure, then a rapid increase and at saturation a value of about 1.5 V above that of the clean surface. Energy loss spectroscopy measurements point to an increase of the surface plasmon energy during the faceting stage. New transitions are observed which are due to new electronic levels induced by the adsorption. They are comparable with photoemission results on W and Mo.     

Auger analysis of etched (100) GaAs surfaces

The Auger depth profiling technique has been used to study the surface oxygen coverage and stoichiometry of (100) GaAs surfaces etched in various etching solutions. The quality of the surface varies with the etching solution, the etching time and the relative concentrations of the agents in each solution. The electrical behaviour of Schottky contacts deposited on the etched surfaces, was clearly affected by the characteristics of the surface.     

Adsorption of ethylenediamine on clean and oxygen covered Fe/Ni(100) surfaces studied by XPS

The interaction of ethylenediamine with Fe/Ni(100) surfaces oxidized to various extents has been studied in the temperature range 260–450 K by means of X-ray photoelectron Spectroscopy. The use of ~ 1 monolayer of Fe enables us to characterize the oxidation states of the topmost layer atoms unambiguously, based on the XPS spectra using a conventional spectrometer. On clean and c(2 × 2)-O surfaces the ethylenediamine can dissociate the N-H bond at 260 K. On heating the adlayer to 340 K the dissociation was further developed. On the surfaces whose Fe atoms were oxidized to FeO/Ni(100) and further, only molecularly adsorbed species were present at 260 K and desorbed partly without dissociation of the N-H bond after heating to 340 K.     

Electron energy-loss spectra of clean and gas-covered Ni(100) surfaces

Electron energy-loss spectra have been measured on Ni(100) surfaces, clean and following oxygen and carbon monoxide adsorption, at primary energies of 40–300 eV. The observed peaks at 9.1, 14 and 19 eV in the clean-surface spectrum are ascribed to the bulk plasmon of the 4s electrons, the surface plasmon, and the bulk plasmon of the coupled 3d + 4s electron, respectively, and the weak but sharp peak at 33 eV is tentatively attributed to the localized many-body effect in the final state. Assignments of the loss structures on the gas-covered surfaces have been attempted.     

Adsorption states and Ga depletion during oxygen adsorption on clean polar GaAs surfaces

Ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS), thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS) and Auger (AES) measurements were used to study oxygen adsorption on sputtered an annealed GaAs(111)Ga, (1̄1̄1̄)As, and (100) surfaces. Two forms of adsorbed oxygen are seen in UPS. One of them is associatively bound and desorbs at 400–550 K mainly as molecular O₂. It is most probably bound to surface As atoms as indicated by the small amounts of AsO which desorb simultaneously. The second form is atomic oxygen bound in an oxidic environment. It desorbs at 720–850 K in the form of Ga₂O. Electron irradiation of the associatively bound oxygen transforms it into the oxidic form. This explains the mechanism of the known stimulating effect of low energy electrons on the oxidation of these surfaces. During oxygen exposure a Ga depletion occurs at the surface which indicates that oxygen adsorption is a more complex phenomenon then is usually assumed. The following model for oxygen adsorption is proposed: oxygen impinges on the surface, removes Ga atoms and thus creates sites which are capable of adsorbing molecular oxygen on As atoms of the second layer and are surrounded by Ga atoms of the first layer. This molecular oxygen is stable and simultaneously forms the precursor state for the dissociation to the oxidic form.     

Vibrational EELS studies of CO chemisorption on clean and carbided (111), (100) and (110) nickel surfaces

Room temperature adsorption of CO on bare and carbided (111), (100) and (110) nickel surfaces has been studied by vibrational electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) and thermal desorption. On the clean (100) and (110) surfaces two configurations of CO adsorbed species, namely “terminal” and bridge bonded CO, are observed simultaneously. On Ni(111), only two-fold sites are involved. The presence of superficial carbon lowers markedly the bond strength of CO on Ni(111)C and Ni(110)C surfaces, while no adsorption has been detected on the Ni(100)C surface. Moreover, on the carbided Ni(110)C surface, the adsorption mode for adsorbed CO is changed with respect to the clean surface; only “terminal” CO is then observed.     

Surface science studies of cobalt overlayers on clean and sulfur covered Mo(100) single crystal surfaces

The interaction of cobalt with clean and sulfur covered Mo(100) surfaces was investigated with Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), low energy electron diffraction (LEED) and temperature programmed desorption (TPD). On the clean surface, the deposition and subsequent annealing of one monolayer of cobalt resulted in the formation of an ordered overlayer with (1 × 1) surface structure. When cobalt was deposited on sulfur covered Mo(100) surfaces, after annealing the sulfur overlayer migrated on top of the cobalt layer. This topmost sulfur overlayer did not significantly affect the thermal desorption of cobalt from the Mo(100) surface. Various ordered structures of sulfur, cobalt and coadsorbed sulfur and cobalt were observed by LEED. A new surface structure showing (3 × 1) symmetry was observed when at least one monolayer of cobalt was deposited and annealed at 870 K on an ordered monolayer of sulfur on the Mo(100) surface. This surface structure was stable in ultrahigh vacuum up to 940 K.     

Anomalous bismuth-stabilized (2x1) reconstructions on GaAs(100) and InP(100) surfaces

First-principles phase diagrams of bismuth-stabilized GaAs- and InP(100) surfaces demonstrate for the first time the presence of anomalous (2x1) reconstructions, which disobey the common electron counting principle. Combining these theoretical results with our scanning-tunneling-microscopy and photoemission measurements, we identify novel (2x1) surface structures, which are composed of symmetric Bi-Bi and asymmetric mixed Bi-As and Bi-P dimers, and find that they are stabilized by stress relief and pseudogap formation.     

The study of vicinal GaAs( 100) surfaces by PAX

The adsorption of xenon at low temperatures on both GaAs(100) and vicinal surfaces has been studied using ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy. The Xe 5p peaks show a characteristic shift to lower binding energy with surface As-depletion. Additional weak emission features seen on the vicinal planes, shifted by around 0.45 eV to higher binding energy, are attributed to Xe adsorbed at the step sites on such surfaces.     

Surface states at the clean surfaces of cleaved Si(111) and GaAs(110)

A combination of ellipsometric data on the electronic transitions from occupied to unoccupied surface states and published photoemission data on the energy distribution of the occupied surface states has been used to construct models of the surface states densities at the cleaved Si (111) and GaAs (110) surfaces.     

Adsorption of ethylene on clean and oxygen precovered Cu(110) surfaces

UV photoemission spectroscopy (UPS) with He I and He II radiation is used to study the interaction of C₂H₄ with clean and oxygen precovered Cu(110) surfaces at 90 K. On the clean surface only-bonding of the C₂H₄ molecules is observed whereas preadsorbed oxygen causes a second molecular orbital to be involved in the chemisorption. This result is consistent with the differing behaviour of the work function change during thermal desorption of C₂H₄.