Reactions of disilane with the deuterium-terminated Ge(1 0 0) 2 × 1 surface

We have studied the reaction of molecular disilane with the germanium monodeuteride surface at 300 K. Temperature-programmed desorption and Raman spectroscopy suggest that the product of the reaction is a GeHD terminated surface. Ion scattering and Auger electron spectroscopies show that silicon does not accumulate on the surface but that it is incorporated into the near-surface (∼10 Å) region. We propose a mechanism involving silylene (SiH2) insertion and subsequent silicon indiffusion. We have also investigated the reactivity of this surface with disilane that has been activated by electron impact, producing a variety of dissociation products that were detected by mass spectrometry. The reactions of these radicals with the surface produced a complex mixture of surface species that included GeH, GeD and SiHx, as identified by Raman spectroscopy.