Photoemission study of the thermal and catalytic decomposition of germane on a Si(111)7×7 surface

Abstract

Photoemission techniques have been used to discern the nature of the species involved in the adsorption of germane and catalytically decomposed germane on a Si(111)7\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}7 surface. It has been shown that the catalytic decomposition of germane induces--at very low substrate temperature (RT--300 \ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}C)--in the Ge adsorption process, a mechanism quite different from the undecomposed germane adsorption. In this study, GeH, ${\mathrm{GeH}}_{2}$, and ${\mathrm{GeH}}_{3}$ radicals have been experimentally identified.