Basis-Modified hydrogen atoms as embedding atoms in ab initio chemisorption cluster model calculations on Si surfaces

A comparative and systematic ab initio study of different models simulating the Si (111) surface has been carried out for a variety of embedding hydrogen atoms including unmodified hydrogen atoms and modified hydrogen atoms described with a STO-4G basis set and a Slater exponent optimized to have the cluster atoms as neutral as possible. The study has been extended to some chemisorption processes as Ag and Al on Si (111). The main conclusion of the present work is that neither the electronic structure of the isolated cluster models nor the nature of the chemisorption bond depend on the kind of embedding hydrogen atoms used to saturate the free valences of the cluster edge atoms. © John Wiley & Sons, Inc.