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Title: Initial and secondary oxidation products on the Si(111)-(7 × 7) surface identified by atomic force microscopy and first principles calculations

Journal Article · · Applied Physics Letters
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4870629· OSTI ID:22261610
;  [1];  [2];  [3];  [1]
  1. Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, 2-1, Yamada-Oka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871 (Japan)
  2. Institute of Physics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Cukrovarnická 10/112, Prague 162 00 (Czech Republic)
  3. The Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research, Osaka University, 8-1 Mihogaoka, Ibaraki, Osaka 567-0047 (Japan)

We investigate the initial and secondary oxidation products on the Si(111)-(7 × 7) surface at room-temperature using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and density functional theory calculations. At the initial oxidation stages, we find that there are two types of bright spots in AFM images. One of them is identified as a Si adatom with one O atom inserted into one of the backbonds, while the other is ascribed to a Si adatom with two inserted O atoms. We observe that the latter one turns into the secondary oxidation product by a further coming O{sub 2} molecule, which appears as a more protruded bright spot. The atomic configuration of this product is identified as Si adatom whose top and all three backbonds make bonds with O atoms. The appearances of initial and secondary oxidation products are imaged as bright and dark sites by scanning tunneling microscopy, respectively. It is revealed that AFM gives us the topographic information close to the real atomic corrugation of adsorbed structures on the semiconductor surfaces.

OSTI ID:
22261610
Journal Information:
Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 104, Issue 13; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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