Low-Temperature Substrate Annealing of Vicinal Si(100) for Epitaxial Growth of GaAs on Si

Effects of atomic hydrogen irradiation on vicinal Si(100) surfaces have been investigated by reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) and scanning tunneling microscope (STM) observations. Interplay of the two different Si hydride phases and dynamic changes in the surface reconstruction have been observed and studied in detail. It has also been shown that removal of oxide from Si surface and a single-domain (2×1) Si surface can be obtained at annealing temperatures below 750°C with atomic hydrogen irradiation, much lower than those usually requied for the conventional thermal treatment methods.