Electronic structures of silicon monoxide film probed by X-ray absorption spectroscopy

Abstract

Electronic structures of thin films of silicon monoxides (SiO) deposited on a solid surface have been in-situ investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS). As a substrate, a highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) was used because the hybridization between molecules and substrate can be excluded due to the inertness of the surface. For thin films with less than monolayer, XPS spectrum showed that the binding energy of the Si 1s is located just between those of the elemental silicon (Si0) and SiO2 (Si4+). The result indicates that the stable divalent silicon surely exists in the deposited SiO layer. For the Si K-edge XAFS spectrum of the SiO thin film, the energy of the core-to-valence resonance peak is also located between those of the elemental silicon (Si0) and SiO2 (Si4+). The polarization dependence of the Si K-edge XAFS spectra for the SiO film revealed that the SiO molecules are well-ordered and almost perpendicularly oriented on HOPG surface. The XAFS results also support the existence of the silicon divalent states in the deposited SiO films. The obtained well-ordered SiO films with divalent silicon will become an excellent starting material for the synthesis of low-dimensional SiOx films.