Atomic defects generated by hydrogen on Si(110) surface as revealed by scanning tunneling microscopy

The initial stage of adsorption processes of atomic hydrogen on the Si(110) ‘16×2’ structure has been studied on an atomic scale using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). Atomic hydrogen adsorbs preferentially on the specific site in the pentagonal building block of ‘16×2’ in order to reduce surface stress. Bright spots are observed around the reaction sites because of charge transfer between pentagon atoms upon hydrogen adsorption. It is found that the framework of Si(110), namely, one-dimensional up-and-down structure, is preserved even after nearly saturation exposure of hydrogen.