Preparation of clean and well-ordered hydrogen-terminated Si(1 1 0)-(1 × 1) surfaces and the measurements of vibrational modes

We propose electrochemical and wet chemical processes to prepare the clean and well-ordered hydrogen-terminated Si(1 1 0)-(1 × 1) surfaces, with our evaluation by low-energy electron-diffraction (LEED), high-resolution electron-energy-loss spectroscopy (HREELS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Clear (1 × 1) LEED patterns indicated the two-dimensional space group of p2mg. The intrinsic Sisingle bondH bending and stretching modes and surface phonon modes, as well as hydrocarbon impurities were observed by HREELS. Among the procedures tested, the electrochemical etching in a NH4F solution yielded the best ordered surface. The wet chemical etching produced the clean samples suitable for HREELS measurements.