A study of the surface electronic properties of Na/D/Si(100) by metastable de-excitation spectroscopy

MDS was used to investigate how sodium adsorbs on deuterium precovered Si(100) surface. Upon depositing sodium atoms on the deuterated silicon, some of the pre-adsorbed deuterium atoms bound to the Si surface break the bonds to produce Na+-D− bonds with its D− end toward the vacuum. The produced system on the Si(100) is not independent layers of Na and D but a mixture of Na–D and metallic Na, whose ratio is dependent on the quantity of adsorbed Na and D. The surface of 5 ML Na adsorption on deuterated Si(100) might consist of islands of metallic Na and Na–D layers.