Theoretical study of defect formation during the initial stages of native-oxide growth on GaSb (001)

Abstract

The formation of defects during the initial stages of native-oxide growth on the GaSb (001)-α(4 × 3) surface has been studied computationally using spin-unrestricted density functional theory. It is found that insertion into a Ga-Sb adatom dimer to form a peroxo Ga-O-O-Sb bridge is the most energetically favorable process with insertion into Ga-Sb back-bonds being somewhat less so. A Ga-O-O-Ga bridge between dimers is also favorable, but Sb-O-O-Sb bridges show little if any stability. In the course of analyzing molecular adsorption, a particularly reactive site has been identified that leads to O2 dissociation with little or no barrier. This process is initiated in the vicinity of an Sb-Sb dimer in the terminating layer and leads to sub-surface Ga and Sb defect sites (i.e., coordinatively unsaturated atoms) and to strained Ga-Sb bonds that may be susceptible to further O2 attack. However, the defects formed in these reactions do not produce states in the gap.