Abstract
An experimental investigation into the effect of surface cleaning, by bombardment with positive ions of the inert gases, on the reverse characteristics of a silicon pn junction diode is described in this paper. It is shown that the reverse current, after increase due to the ion bombardment, can be restored to the original equilibrium level by operating the diode in an atmosphere of oxygen. All the experimental evidence suggests that all the effects observed are surface in origin, the ion bombardment cleaning enhancing, and an adsorption of oxygen reducing the surface leakage current. Changes in the reverse current are used as a measure of oxygen adsorption and to give useful evidence about the sorption mechanism. The condensation coefficient of oxygen molecules incident upon a clean silicon surface is calculated to be of the order of 0.01. It is also demonstrated that the oxygen molecule requires two adjacent vacant sites before adsorption is possible.
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