Preparation of clean InP(100) surfaces studied by synchrotron radiation photoemission

The chemical cleaning of indium phosphide (InP),(100) surfaces is studied systematically by using photoemission electron spectroscopy. In order to achieve the necessary surface sensitivity and spectral resolution, synchrotron radiation with photon energies ranging from 60 to 600 eV are used to study the indium 4d, phosphorus 2p, carbon Is, and oxygen Is core levels, and the valence band. Typical H2SO4:H2O2:H2O solutions used to etch GaAs(100) surfaces are applied to InP(100) surfaces. It is found that the resulting surface species are significantly different from those found on GaAs(100) surfaces and that a second chemical cleaning step using a strong acid is required to remove residual surface oxide. This two-step cleaning process leaves the surface oxide free and with approximately 0.4 ML of elemental phosphorus, which is removed by vacuum annealing. The carbon coverage is also reduced dramatically from approximately I to about 0.05 ML. The chemical reactions are investigated, the resulting InP surface species at different cleaning stages are determined, and the optimum cleaning procedure is presented. (C) 2003 American Vacuum Society.