Initial oxidation of Si[001] induced by translational kinetic energy of O/sub 2/ supersonic molecula

The translational kinetic energy (E_t) of O₂, incident molecules can considerably affect the probability of dissociative adsorption and enhance surface chemical reactions. Supersonic molecular beams (SSMB ) is a fascinating method to control gas molecules with well-defined spatial distribution, particle flux and ( translational ) kinetic energies. The SSMB is also important technique for surface scientists to study adsorption energy barrier and sticking probabilities of incident particles on solid surfaqes. A great deal of experimental and theoretical work has been done to investigate kinetics and dynamics of O₂, adsorption on Si(001) surface, however, little number of molecular beam work with greater than E_t = 1.0eV of O₂, on the initial oxidation of Si(001) has been published. We report the O₂, sticking on Si(001) surface ( passive oxidation ) and the SiO desorption ( active oxidation ) induced by translational kinetic energies of O₂, (up to 3.0 eV) using the SSMB.