Study of a Si(110) surface by using reflection high-energy electron diffraction-total reflection angle X-ray spectroscopy and high temperature scanning tunneling microscopy

Abstract

A “16 × 2” (16-structure) was only found on a clean Si(110) surface using reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED). A detailed study using reflection high-energy electron diffraction-total reflection angle X-ray spectroscopy (RHEED-TRAXS) has shown that 5 × 4, 1 × 2, 1 × 5, 1 × 7 and 1 × 9 structures were formed when Ni adhered to a clean Si(110) surface with the 16-structure. It also showed that reversible phase transitions took place among the structures, namely 5× 4, 1 × 2, 1 × 5, 1 × 7 and 1× 9, depending on the amount of Ni deposition and the surface temperature. High temperature scanning tunneling microscopy (HTSTM) was applied to study the crystal growth of a (15, 17, 1) vicinal plane on a Si(110) surface. It was found that an impurity hillock, which must be a fine particle of SiC on the surface, pins step-flows and bunches them to form a vicinal plane, such as (17, 15, 1), (17, 15, 1 ), (15, 17, 1) and (15, 17, 1 ), at 710°C. A series of experimental results is reviewed in detail.