Pulsed laser ultrahigh vacuum deposited silicon in the presence of excess cesium and oxygen studied with x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy

Abstract

Si/Cs/O clusters were prepared in an ultrahigh vacuum system with pulsed laser ablation of Si in the presence of Cs vapor and molecular oxygen. The effects of an O2 ambient, the pressure, and the deposition sequence of Cs and O2 on the oxidation state of cesium oxides and silicon oxides, as well as on the formation of Si/Cs/O clusters, were studied with x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Oxygen 1s spectra were deconvoluted to cesium oxide(s) at around 530.5 eV and silicon oxide(s) at 532.3 eV. From the low binding energy side to the high binding energy side, Si 2p spectra were assigned to negatively charged Si clusters (94 and 96 eV), silicon suboxide (102 eV), SiO2 (104 eV), and Si/Cs/O clusters (106 eV), respectively. The high binding energy species was explained by the formation of Si(CsO1+x)n clusters. Surface morphologies were influenced by the oxidation state of cesium oxides and their amount. The work function decrease as much as 0.5±0.1 eV was measured with ex situ AFM.