Chemical interactions in noncontact AFM on semiconductor surfaces: Si(111), Si(100) and GaAs(110)

Total-energy pseudopotential calculations are used to study the imaging process in noncontact atomic force microscopy (AFM) on Si(111), Si(100) and GaAs(110) surfaces. The chemical bonding interaction between a localised dangling bond on the atom at the apex of the tip and the dangling bonds on the adatoms in the surface is shown to dominate the forces and the force gradients and, hence, to provide atomic resolution. The lateral resolution capabilities are tested in both the Si(100) and the GaAs(110) surfaces. In the first case, the two atoms in a dimer can be resolved due to the dimer flip induced by the interaction with the tip during the scan, while in the GaAs(110), we identify the anion sublattice as the one observed in the experimental images.     

Noncontact AFM imaging on a Si(111)2×1-Sb surface with occupied lone-pair orbitals

Force interaction between an orbital of a dangling bond out of a Si tip apex and an occupied lone-pair orbital on a Si(111)2ǵ-Sb surface is experimentally investigated to clarify the imaging mechanism of noncontact AFM. Sb adatoms with occupied lone-pair orbitals are clearly observed on the 2ǵ zigzag chain structure surface. The discontinuity in the frequency-shift curve is not observed at the Sb sites. Possible contrast mechanisms are discussed and the most understandable in terms of the chemical bonding interaction weaken by the existence of the anti-bonding orbital with one electron.     

Magnetic ordering of dangling bond networks on hydrogen-deposited Si(111) surfaces

Based on total-energy electronic-structure calculations within the density-functional theory, we find that a high spin state is realized for an ultimate dangling bond unit on an otherwise hydrogen-covered Si(111) surface. We further propose a systematic method of constructing nanometer-scale dangling bond networks that exhibit the ferrimagnetic spin ordering. The interplay between the electron-electron interaction and the surface reconstruction is elucidated.     

The chemisorption of hydrogen on silicon and silicon carbide (1 0 0) surfaces

The chemisorption of hydrogen onto semiconductor surfaces is examined. The hydrogen bonds to the dangling bond of a surface atom. These dangling bonds also dictate the reconstruction of the crystal surface. The chemisorbed hydrogen therefore modifies the reconstructed surface topology. In this work theoretical calculations of the surface structures of both covalent elemental silicon and polar silicon carbide are presented. The periodic MINDO method is employed to determine the topologies for the 2 × 1 reconstructed (1 0 0) surfaces. These topologies are obtained from the minimisation of the total energy, for silicon and silicon carbide films of 14 layer thickness, with respect to the atomic co-ordinates of the hydrogen adsorbate and the first four layers of the substrate. The results show that the formation of the hydrogen bond to the substrate leads to a general lengthening of the surface dimer bond. In addition, the buckling of the silicon dimer determined for silicon terminated SiC is removed by hydrogen chemisorption.     

Calculation of the surface energy of bcc-metals with the empirical electron theory

We have used the dangling bond analysis method (DBAM) based on the empirical electron theory (EET) to establish a database of surface energy for low index surfaces of the bcc-metals such as V, Cr, Fe, Nb, Mo, Ta, and W. And a brief introduction of the new surface energy models will be presented in this paper. Under the first-order approximation the calculated results are in agreement with experimental and other theoretical values. And the calculated surface energy shows a strong anisotropy. As we predicted, the surface energy of the close-packed (1 1 0) is the lowest one of all index surfaces. It is also found that the dangling bond electron density and the spatial distribution of covalent bonds have a great influence on surface energy of various index surfaces. The new calculation method for the research of surface energy provides a good basis for models of surface science phenomena, and the model may be extended to the surface energy estimation of more metals, alloys, ceramics, and so on, since abundant information about the valence electronic structure (VES) can be generated from EET.     

Electronic structure of Si(111) surfaces

We report on new angle-resolved photoemission studies of Si(111) 2 × 1 and 7 × 7 surfaces. The emission from the 2 × 1 surface shows much structure. For normal emission the energy positions are insensitive to the photon energy in the range 19–27 eV. The emission has been interpreted as a probe of the surface density of states, SDOS, including both surface states, resonances and bulk-like states. The SDOS was also calculated as a function of parallel momentum k_∥ for a model of the Si(111) 2 × 1 surface obtained from energy minimization considerations. We identify emission from the dangling bond band, which has a positive dispersion of 0.6 eV, and also emission from surface resonances which have some character of the compressed and stretched back bonds. There are also other predicted surface resonances that correspond to experimental peaks which have not been identified in previous work. Except for the dangling bond band, the surface resonances are limited in k_∥ space, so that it is not possible to follow these resonance bands over all angles. Maximum intensity for the normal emission from the dangling bond is obtained at 23 eV, while the emission from the lowest s-like states monotonically increases towards 30 eV photon energy. When annealing the cleaved 2 × 1 surface to the 7 × 7 reconstructed surface, the spectra broaden significantly. The intensity of the dangling bond decreases and we see a very small metallic edge.     

New aspects of light emission from STM

The recently discovered new mechanism of light emission from a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) compared with well-known conventional mechanisms is reviewed. The new mechanism was found for nanoscale structures which are composed of silicon (Si) dangling bonds on Si(001) surfaces. When an STM tip made of tungsten is located above Si dangling bond sites, visible light is emitted at a quantum efficiency of the order of 10^-6 photons/electron. Light is generated by radiative dipole transitions between the surface state of the tip and that of the sample. In the visible-light emission, optical selection rules still apply. The linear polarization of isochromat light emitted from the tunneling gap between an STM tip and a Si(001) sample strongly depends on the bias voltage between the tip and the sample. The results show that the ^* and ^* surface states of the sample contribute to the emission of p-polarized and s-polarized light, respectively, in accordance with optical selection rules. PACS 07.79.-v; 73.20.-r     

Cl insertion on Si(100)-(2x1): etching under conditions of supersaturation

We use scanning tunneling microscopy to show that Cl2 dosing of Cl-saturated Si(100)-(2x1) surfaces at elevated temperature leads to uptake beyond "saturation" and allows access to a new etching pathway. This process involves Cl insertion in Si-Si dimer bonds or backbonds, diffusion of the inserted Cl, and ultimately desorption of SiCl2. Investigations into the etch kinetics reveal that insertion occurs via a novel form of Cl2 dissociative chemisorption that is mediated by dangling bond sites. Upon dissociation, one Cl atom adsorbs at the dangling bond while the other can insert.     

表面悬挂键对GaAs纳米线掺杂的影响及其钝化

利用第一性原理计算方法研究了表面悬挂键对GaAs纳米线掺杂的影响及其钝化．计算结果显示,不论是闪锌矿结构还是纤锌矿结构,GaAs纳米线表面Ga原子上带正电荷的表面悬挂键都是一类稳定的缺陷,并且这种稳定性不会随着纳米线直径的变化而变化．这种表面悬挂键会形成载流子陷阱中心从而从p型掺杂的GaAs纳米线俘获空穴,使得纳米线的掺杂效率下降．和NH₃相比,NO₂ 具有足够的电负性来俘获GaAs纳米线表面悬挂键上的未配对电子,从而有效地钝化GaAs纳米线的表面悬挂键,提高纳米线的p型掺杂效率,并且这种钝化特性不会随着纳米线直径的变化而改变．     

Hydrogen adsorption on the silicon (001) surface and on a step on the (111) surface

Adsorption of atomic hydrogen on an ideal (001) silicon surface is investigated in the present paper. Saturation of one of the two dangling bonds of a silicon atom on this surface by hydrogen removes the interaction (hybridization) between them, resulting in the appearance of a bonding and an antibonding chemisorption state associated with the attacked dangling bond, and in the shift of the peak of the remaining unsaturated dangling bond to the energy typical of a surface state of the (111) surface. Further saturation leads to the disappearance of this peak from the energy spectrum. An analogous situation occurs for the silicon atom with two dangling bonds on a step on the (111) surface, when hydrogen is chemisorbed. Both examples testify to the local chemical nature of Shockley surface states in silicon.The authors thank A. N. Sorokin for useful discussions.     

Hydrogen chemisorption on cleavage faces of III–V compounds

In this paper a number of experimental results dealing with the study of the electronic properties of H-exposed III–V semiconductor cleavage surfaces will be reviewed. The principal aim of the paper is to show how surface sensitive spectroscopies like electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) and ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy (UPS) can be used to investigate these systems. The paper is focused on GaAs(1 1 0):H. GaAs(1 1 0) is one of the most widely investigated and better known semiconductor surfaces: this system can be taken as a case study for the interaction of H with III–V semiconductor cleavage surfaces. The paper is divided into two parts. In the first part EELS and UPS are used and combined to get information about the surface valence states. In the second part core level (CL) photoemission results are presented and discussed.

Combining theory with the above results, a unified picture of the H interaction with the (1 1 0) surface of GaAs comes out. H atoms chemisorb at the early stages along the dangling bond directions of the ideal not relaxed surface, removing the surface relaxation and introducing at the same time defects at the surface.

At the same time the interaction with H produces a Ga enrichment at the surface ascribed to As desorption.     

Distance dependence of noncontact-AFM image contrast on Si(111) × –Ag structure

Atomic resolution imaging of the Si(111) × R30°–Ag surface was investigated using a noncontact atomic force microscopy (NC-AFM) in ultrahigh vacuum. NC-AFM images showed three types of contrasts depending on the distance between an AFM tip and a sample surface. When the tip–sample distance was about 1–3 Å, the images showed the honeycomb arrangement with weak contrast. When the tip–sample distance was about 0–0.5 Å, the images showed the periodic structure composed of three bright spots with relatively strong contrast. On the other hand, the contrasts of images measured at the distance of 0.5–1 Å seemed to be composed of the above-mentioned two types of contrasts. By comparing the site of bright spots in the AFM images with honeycomb-chained trimer (HCT) model, we suggested the following models: when the tip is far from the sample surface, tip–sample interaction force contributing to imaging is dominated by physical bonding interaction such as Coulomb force and/or van der Waals (vdW) force between the tip apex Si atoms and Ag trimer on the sample surface. On the other hand, just before the contact, tip–sample interaction force contributing to imaging is dominated by chemical bonding such as the force due to hybridization between the dangling bond out of the tip apex Si atom and the orbit of Si–Ag covalent bond on the sample surface.     

Contrast mechanism in non-contact SFM imaging of ionic surfaces

We analyse the mechanisms of contrast formation in NC-SFM imaging of ionic surfaces and calculate constant frequency shift scanlines of the perfect surfaces of NaCl and MgO. Non-contact SFM operation is modelled in a perturbed oscillator model using an atomistic simulation technique for force–field calculations. We demonstrate that the contrast in NC-SFM imaging of ionic surfaces is based on the interplay between the van der Waals interaction and the electrostatic interaction of the tip with the surface potential and the local surface polarisation induced by the tip. The results emphasise the importance of the tip-induced relaxation of the surface ions in the tip–surface interaction and image contrast.     

EPR investigation of a-Si:H aerosol particles formed under silane thermal decomposition

The dangling bond defects were investigated in a-Si:H particles formed under silane thermal decomposition in flow reactor. EPR together with hydrogen evolution method were used. The experimental results allowed us to conclude that there are two kinds of dangling bond defects in a-Si:H aerosol particles. The defects of the first kind are localized on the surface of interconnected microvoids and microchannels (surface dangling bonds) and those of the second kind are embedded in amorphous silicon network (volume dangling bonds). The thermal equilibration of dangling bonds and temperature dependence of equilibrium dangling bond concentration were investigated. It was found that at temperatures > 400 K the dangling bond concentrationNApplied Magnetic Resonance _s reversibly depends on sample temperature. The volume dangling bond concentration increases with temperature increasing (the effective activation energy of dangling bond formationU > 0), and the surface dangling bond concentration decreases with temperature increasing (U < 0). It has been found that EPR line is considerably asymmetric for samples with high hydrogen content and for low hydrogen content the EPR line is weakly asymmetric. A conclusion was drawn that the asymmetry degree depends on amorphous silicon lattice distortions. This conclusion has been confirmed by EPR spectra simulations.     

Hydrogen adsorption and surface structures of silicon

The adsorption of atomic hydrogen on silicon (111)2 × 1 cleaved, (111) 7 × 7, and (100) 2 × 1 surfaces has been studied by using electron energy loss spectrscopy (ELS) and Photoemission spectroscopy (UPS). On all surfaces the hydrogen removes the “dangling bond” surface state and a new peak in the density of states at lower energies corresponding to the SiH bond is found. The LEED pattern of the equilibrium surfaces (111) 7 × 7 and (100) 2 × 1 is not altered by hydrogen adsorption, while on the cleaved (111) 2 × 1 surface the fractional order spots are extinguished. The Haneman surface-buckling model therefore provides an explanation for the surface reconstruction of the cleaved (111) 2 × 1 surfaces. For the equilibrium surfaces, (111) 7 × 7 and the (100) 2 × 1, the data are consistent with the Lander-Phillips model.     

Angular resolved ups of surface states on GaAs(1&#x0304;1&#x0304;1&#x0304;) prepared by molecular beam epitaxy

The As-rich (2 × 2), a newly found (√3 × √3) and the (√19 × √19) surfaces of GaAs(1&#x0304;1&#x0304;1&#x0304;) are studied by angular resolved UPS (ARUPS). The (2 × 2) surface is prepared by molecular beam epitaxy and the others by mild annealing. For the (2 × 2) surface emission from surface states is observed, which shows dispersion periodic within the (2 × 2) surface Brillouin zone. Using s-polarized light and the known symmetry selection rules the uppermost surface bands between 1 and 2 eV below the valence band maximum are assigned to the As dangling bond orbital. The bands near 4 and 7 eV assigned to the backbonds. From the strong decrease of emission intensity of the As-derived surface states between the (2 × 2) and the annealed surfaces it is concluded that the character of the As dangling bond orbital must have been changed from sp³-hybridic to s-like. This gives further evidence for our recently proposed model for the (√19 × √19) surface, which is particularly applicable for the (√3 × √3) surface.     

Charge exchange in Li scattering from Si surfaces

Neutral fractions are measured for 4 keV 7Li(+) scattering from clean, hydrogen-covered, and cesiated Si surfaces. The neutral fraction in scattering from clean Si is approximately 26% and it decreases with hydrogen adsorption. When Cs is adsorbed on Si, the neutral fraction does not distinguish the local potential at the Cs sites from the Si sites, unless hydrogen is coadsorbed. These results demonstrate that resonant charge transfer occurs due to coupling of the Li ionization level with the dangling bond surface states, and that the influence of the dangling bonds extends beyond the local scattering sites.     

A bond orbital model investigation of the surface electronic energy structure of Si(111)

Intrinsic surface states for the Si(111) surface are investigated using the Bond Orbital Model. The semi-infinite crystal is simulated by gradually increasing the number of layers until the convergence is achieved. Total density of states are presented for unrelaxed, relaxed and the hydrogen chemisorbed Si(111) surfaces. The effect of the (2 × 1) reconstruction on the dangling bond surface state is also investigated. The results are in excellent agreement with photoemission experiments.     

表面悬挂键导致硅纳米线掺杂失效机理的第一性原理研究

利用第一性原理方法, 本文计算了B/N单掺杂SiNWs, 以及含有表面悬挂键的B/N单掺杂硅纳米线的总能和电子结构, 计算结果表明, 悬挂键的出现会导致单原子掺杂失效. 能带结构分析表明, B/N掺杂的H钝化的SiNWs表现出正常的p/n特性, 而表面悬挂键(dangling binding, DB)的存在会导致p型(B原子)或者n型(N原子)掺杂失效; 其失效的原因主要是因为表面悬挂键所引入的缺陷能级俘获了n型杂质(p型杂质)所带来的电子(空穴); 利用小分子(SO₂)吸附饱和悬挂键可以起到激活杂质的作用, 进而实现Si纳米线的有效掺杂.     

Valence surface electronic states on Ge(001)

The optical, electrical, and chemical properties of semiconductor surfaces are largely determined by their electronic states close to the Fermi level (E{F}). We use scanning tunneling microscopy and density functional theory to clarify the fundamental nature of the ground state Ge(001) electronic structure near E{F}, and resolve previously contradictory photoemission and tunneling spectroscopy data. The highest energy occupied surface states were found to be exclusively back bond states, in contrast to the Si(001) surface, where dangling bond states also lie at the top of the valence band.