title: Site-specific evolution of surface stress during the room-temperature oxidation of the Si(111)-(7 x 7) surface.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry and Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices (CRANN), Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.
authors.forename: N T
authors.initials: NT
authors.lastname: Kinahan
authors.forename: D E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Meehan
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Narushima
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sachert
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Boland
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Miki