Structural transitions on Si(1 1 1) surface during Sn adsorption, electromigration, and desorption studied by in situ UHV REM

Abstract

Using in situ ultrahigh vacuum reflection electron microscopy, we have studied structural transitions on the Si(111) surface induced by Sn deposition up to 2 ML coverage (1 ML = 7.8∙1014 cm−2) and by Sn desorption at substrate temperatures T = 200–860 °C. We have shown that Si–Sn intermixing in the adsorption layer during Sn deposition onto the Si(111)-(7 × 7) surface at T > 650 °C leads to the shift of the monatomic steps in the step-up direction, and there is formed a mosaic (√3×√3)-Sn phase. The electromigration of Sn adatoms induced by DC resistive heating has been shown to redistribute adsorbed Sn layer and to cause local (√3×√3)-Sn ⇔ “1 × 1”-Sn structural transitions on the surface. We have estimated the lower bound of the Sn adatom positive effective charge on the Si(111) surface qeffSn ≥ 0.001∙e. During AC annealing, the rate of desorption-induced “1 × 1”-Sn domain area shrinkage has been measured as a function of substrate temperature, and the activation energy of Sn adatom desorption has been estimated to be 2.5 ± 0.1 eV.