Epitaxial growth of Sb thin film and chemical reaction of Sb-induced surface reconstruction on Si(113)3 x 2

Antimony layers deposited on a Si(1 1 3)3 x 2 surface are investigated with low energy electron diffraction (LEED) and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES). No long-range order is obtained in the room temperature grown Sb layer. Post-growth annealing at about 100 degreesC restores long-range order and produces two-domain sixfold symmetric hexagonal structure. The tilted angle between two domains is 33.6 degrees, which corresponds to the angle between [(7) over bar 4 1] and [4 (7) over bar 1] direction on bulk-terminated Si(1 1 3) plane. Sb (MNN) and Si (LMM) AES peak-to-peak intensities as a function of Sb deposition time at 100 degreesC indicate that the overlayer structure grows a layer-by-layer fashion on the Si(1 1 3) surface at least up to two full molecule layer. Simple overlayer structure model, which consists of Sb-n (n = 1-4) molecules, is suggested. Depending on the substrate temperatures above 300 degreesC and Sb coverages, the 1 x 1, 2 x 2, and 2 x 5 reconstructions are formed successively. Oxygen exposure shows quite different surface chemical reactivities depending on the surface structures. The 1 x 1 and 2 x 2 surfaces are strongly passivated, on the other hand, the 2 x 5 surface reacts with oxygen relatively well. The different chemical reactivity is explained by the existence of the Sb lone pairs and Si dangling bonds in the unit cells. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.