Abstract
After ex situ etching with various solutions of hydrofluoric acid (HF) and ammonium fluoride (NH4F) Si(111) samples are transferred into ultrahigh vacuum with an ultrafast load-lock and characterized by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM): Concentrated HF selectively removes any surface oxide and, thus chemically prepares the initially burried, isotropically rough Si/SiO2 interface while highly buffered HF (i.e., NH4F) attacks bulk silicon anisotropically. After a rapid homogenization of the chemical surface termination (HF: various hydrides, fluorine, ...) towards a perfect, unreconstructed monohydride phase, Si(111)-(1×1):H, NH4F etching leads to a time-dependent transformation of isotropic roughness into a pattern of triangular etch defects with monohydride steps perpendicular to <2̄11≳ due to a preferential removal of lower-coordinated atomic defect sites. A predominant atomic step structure due to sample miscut (vicinal surfaces with azimuth ≠<2̄11≳) can oppose the anisotropic NH4F etching: At low step density (small polar angle of miscut) a meandering of atomic steps with straight monohydride portions is observed while at high step density strong step-step interaction counterbalances anisotropic removal and forces an etching by a homogeneous flow of (nonmonohydride) steps along the macroscopic misorientation. Local findings obtained with STM are compared to macroscopically averaged results from a simultaneous quantitative analysis of low-energy electron diffraction profiles.
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Dates
Type | When |
---|---|
Created | 23 years ago (July 26, 2002, 9:15 a.m.) |
Deposited | 1 year, 6 months ago (Feb. 4, 2024, 11:51 a.m.) |
Indexed | 1 year, 6 months ago (Feb. 10, 2024, 7:39 p.m.) |
Issued | 32 years, 3 months ago (May 15, 1993) |
Published | 32 years, 3 months ago (May 15, 1993) |
Published Print | 32 years, 3 months ago (May 15, 1993) |
@article{Pietsch_1993, title={Anisotropic etching versus interaction of atomic steps: Scanning tunneling microscopy observations on HF/NH4F-treated Si(111)}, volume={73}, ISSN={1089-7550}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.353845}, DOI={10.1063/1.353845}, number={10}, journal={Journal of Applied Physics}, publisher={AIP Publishing}, author={Pietsch, G. J. and Köhler, U. and Henzler, M.}, year={1993}, month=may, pages={4797–4807} }