High resolution surface analysis of Si roughening in dilute ammonium fluoride solution

The initial stages of porous Si formation on Si(111) in dilute ammonium fluoride solution are analysed by photoelectron spectroscopy using synchrotron radiation (SRPES). The PES results in the por-Si formation regime partly support a recent dissolution model. The contribution from the Si 2p surface core level shift shows that 0.35 ML of the surface is still H-terminated after interruption of the conditioning process at the first photocurrent maximum. Two signals shifted in binding energy by 0.8 and 1 eV, respectively, are attributed to reaction intermediates expected from the proposed reaction mechanism and from theoretical calculations using density functional theory (DFT). A distinct roughening is found in in-situ AFM measurements, with a calculated RMS roughness parameter of 2.6 nm.