Energy dependent sticking coefficients of trimethylamine on Si(001)—Influence of the datively bonded intermediate state on the adsorption dynamics

Abstract

The adsorption dynamics of the datively bonded trimethylamine (TMA) on Si(001) was investigated by means of molecular beam techniques. The initial sticking probability s0 of TMA on Si(001) was measured as a function of kinetic energy at two different surface temperatures (230 and 550K). At given surface temperature, s0 was found to decrease with increasing kinetic energy (0.1 to 0.6eV) indicating a non-activated reaction channel. At increased surface temperature, s0 is reduced due to the onset of desorption into the gas phase. The energy dependence of s0 is compared to the results for the adsorption of tetrahydrofuran (THF) on Si(001), which reacts via a datively bonded intermediate into a covalently bound final state. As s0 follows the same energy dependence both for TMA and THF, the datively bonded intermediate state is concluded to dominate the reaction dynamics in the latter case as well.