SCANNING TUNNELING MICROSCOPY STUDIES OF SEMICONDUCTOR SURFACE PASSIVATION

Heteroepitaxial growth of compound semiconductors on Si surfaces is strongly affected by the bonding of the first atomic layer to the substrate. These effects, which include passivation, etching, reaction and compound formation, can be understood by examining the atomic structure of the surface as the first atomic layers of the overlayer are formed. In this paper we examine the information obtained from scanning tunneling microscopy for passivation of semiconductor surfaces. We will discuss in detail the case of group V and VI overlayers on Si surfaces and also address the passivating effect of group VI atoms on the surface of III-V compounds.