Investigation of 1,1-dichloroethene interacting with the Si(1 1 1)–7 × 7 surface studied by scanning tunneling microscopy

Adsorption of 1,1-dichloroethene (1,1-DCE) at the Si(1 1 1)–7 × 7 surface has been investigated using scanning tunneling microscopy. 1,1-DCE dissociates upon adsorption by breaking one or both CCl bonds. The appearance of reacted adatoms in the 7 × 7 reconstruction is found to vary for both positive and negative sample bias voltages in the range of 0.8 V to 2.5 V. Dissociated Cl atoms bond to adatom sites and appear bright for bias voltages higher than ±1.4 V. The other dissociated species appear dark for bias voltages below ±1.85 V with a preference of 2:1 for bonding to center relative to corner adatom sites. The faulted half unit cell is preferred. It is demonstrated that rest atoms are active in the dissociation of two-thirds of the 1,1-DCE molecules.