Reactive atom–surface scattering: The adsorption and reaction of atomic oxygen on the Si(100) surface

Abstract

The adsorption and reaction of atomic oxygen on the Si(100) surface has been examined by employing supersonic beam techniques, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and mass spectrometry. Atomic oxygen adsorbs with a unit probability of adsorption on the clean Si(100) surface, independent of incident translational energy, incident angle, and surface temperature. The probability of adsorption decreases monotonically with increasing coverage. At surface temperatures above ∼1000 K, the adsorption of atomic oxygen results in the gasification of the substrate, producing SiO(g). In comparison to molecular oxygen for this reaction, where two surface intermediates were implicated, only one surface intermediate is formed from the reaction of atomic oxygen with the Si surface. We suggest this is due to the ability of atomic oxygen to attach to the dangling bond states present on the Si(100) surface.