Site-specific evolution of surface stress during the room-temperature oxidation of the Si(111)-(7 x 7) surface.
The reaction of molecular oxygen with the Si(111)-7 x 7 surface is investigated at room temperature using in situ scanning tunneling microscopy and surface stress measurements to reveal the quantitative relationship between site-specific oxygen coverage and a decrease in tensile surface stress. This relationship is described using a modified form of the reaction model originally proposed by Dujardin et al. We show that the decrease in tensile surface stress is greatest for the faulted subunits of the 7 x 7 cell and determine the stress signatures of different reaction products, including the absence of long-lived metastable species with a unique stress signature.
Kinahan
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NT
School of Chemistry and Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices (CRANN), Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.
Meehan
D E
DE
Narushima
T
T
Sachert
S
S
Boland
J J
JJ
Miki
K
K