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If the cleaved (110) surface of GaAs is exposed to oxygen in its molecular ground state (exposures of 10¹² Torr), oxygen is chemisorbed only on the surface As atoms and there is no breaking of bonds between the surface atoms (Ga or As) and the rest of the crystal. However, if the oxygen is excited, e.g., by an ionization gauge, these bonds are broken and oxidation proceeds past the chemisorption stage. The GaSb (110) surface behaves differently and will be discussed for comparison.
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Pianetta et al. (1976) studied this question.
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