Surface-induced charge at the Ge (001) surface and its interaction with self-interstitials

Abstract

The Ge (001) surface with dimer structure, is negatively charged while into the bulk, positive charges are observed even deeper than the fifteenth layer from the surface. This is different from the Si case. This charge distribution can lead to the repulsion of positively charged self-interstitials by the positively charged near surface layer in an implantation or irradiation process. Self-interstitial reflection by Ge surfaces had been proposed to explain the results of diffusion experiments during irradiation whereby positively charged self-interstitials are generated by collisions of highly energetic particles with Ge atoms. We investigated different Ge (001) surface comparing an as-cleaved surface with dangling bonds to a surface with dimer structure, and to a surface terminated by hydrogen atoms. The effect of these different surface terminations on the surface-induced charges in the near surface bulk were calculated by ab initio techniques.