Ideal hydrogen termination of the Si (111) surface

Aqueous HF etching of silicon surfaces results in the removal of the surface oxide and leaves behind silicon surfaces terminated by atomic hydrogen. The effect of varying the solution pH on the surface structure is studied by measuring the SiH stretch vibrations with infrared absorption spectroscopy. Basic solutions ( pH=9–10) produce ideally terminated Si(111) surfaces with silicon monohydride ( 3/4 SiH) oriented normal to the surface. The surface is found to be very homogeneous with low defect density (0.5%) and narrow vibrational linewidth (0.95 cm−1 ).