Distribution of dangling bond pairs on partially hydrogen-terminated Si(100) surface observed by scanning tunneling microscopy

Hydrogen recombinative desorption from a Si2H2 monohydride dimer on the Si(100) surface regenerates a dangling bond (DB) pair on the dimer. In this paper, we investigated the spatial distribution of the regenerated DB pairs on the Si(100)-2×1:H and disilane-passivated Si(100) surface using elevated temperature scanning tunneling microscopy (HT-STM) in the temperature range between 590 and 622 K. Experimental results indicate that the ends of one-dimensional (1D) monohydride dimer islands are preferred sites for DB pairs and a repulsive interaction occurs between two neighboring DB pairs in the same dimer row.