Evolution of surface stress during oxygen exposure of clean Si(111), Si(100), and amorphous Si surfaces

Abstract

The evolutions of the surface stress of Si(111)-7 × 7, Si(100)-2 × 1, and a-Si surfaces upon oxygen exposure at pO2 = 1 × 10−4 Pa and room temperature have been investigated in a comparative manner using a specimen-curvature based technique. To this end, a generally applicable, dedicated set of experiments has been devised and performed to deduce and correct for the surface stress change owing to oxygen reaction(s) at the (poorly-defined) back face of the specimen only. On this basis, it could be demonstrated that exposure of clean Si(111)-7 × 7, Si(100)-2 × 1 and a-Si surfaces to pure oxygen gas results in compressive surface stress changes for all three surfaces due to the incorporation of oxygen into Si backbonds. The measured surface stress change decreases with decreasing atomic packing density at the clean Si surfaces, which complies well with the less-densily packed Si surface regions containing more free volume for the accommodation of adsorbed O atoms.