Ratio of deuterium to hydrogen termination on silicon surface in aqueous electrolyte solutions

The ratio of deuterium (D)- to hydrogen (H)-adatom concentrations on Si crystal surfaces in hydrogenated and deuterated electrolyte solutions was evaluated by the theory of the elementary act of proton transfer reactions. The result shows that the ratio is determined by the difference between configurational chemical potentials of the isotope reactants. In the temperature range of 273-373 K, the ratio is about 1 at steady-state conditions and somewhat lower at electrochemical equilibrium conditions, and decreases slowly as the temperature increases. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.