Heavy-Ion RBS/ERDA Studies on the Growth of Silver on Hydrogen-Terminated Si(111) Surfaces

Abstract

The growth processes of Ag on Si(111) surfaces have been in situ studied by heavy-ion Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS), elastic recoil detection analysis (ERDA), and LEED techniques. The effects of hydrogen preadsorption, deposition temperature, and annealing temperatures on RBS spectra have been observed under ultra high vacuum of 3×10−10 Torr. A noticeable difference in heavy-ion RBS Ag peaks is observed between Ag films deposited at 300°C onto clean and hydrogen-terminated Si(111) surfaces. We found that the spread of the peak of Ag deposited on clean surfaces was about four times as large as that on hydrogen-terminated surfaces. When hydrogen is thermally desorbed from the Ag deposited surfaces above 400°C, the increase in the spread of Ag RBS signals is observed, the spread being similar to that observed for the Ag film on clean surfaces.