Ab initio studies of silane decomposition on Si(100)

Ab initio surface reaction energetics of SiH4 and Si2H6 on Si(001)-(2×2)

First-principles pseudopotential calculations, within a simple dynamically constrained scheme, have been performed to investigate the reaction of 0.25 ML coverage of SiH4 and Si2H6 with the Si(001)-(2 x 2) surface. The silane molecule (SiH4) is adsorbed on to the surface at a number of different sites (on dimer, interrow, or intrarow) with varying barrier heights. Two distinct structures, which are similar in energy, arise from the initial dissociative reaction SiH4-->SiH3(silyl) + H, where the dissociated species are adsorbed either on the same dimer components or on adjacent dimer components. Several further decays of silyl from SiH4 are presented in two separate regimes of high and low ambient hydrogen coverages. The decomposition of silyl can form two different bridging structures: an on top or an intrarow bridging structure in both of the two hydrogen coverage regimes. The disilane molecule (Si2H6) is also adsorbed upon this surface with varying energy barriers, resulting in a dissociation reaction where two SiH3 species are adsorbed on one dimer or in an adjacent dimer configuration. Plausible energy reaction paths for the above models are presented. The stability of the SiH2 species is also discussed.

Nonequilibrium Activated Dissociative Chemisorption: SiH4 on Si(100)

A three-parameter local hot spot model of gas-surface reactivity is employed to analyze and predict dissociative sticking coefficients for SiH4 incident on Si(100) under varied nonequilibrium conditions. Two Si surface oscillators and the molecular vibrations, rotations, and translational energy directed along the local surface normal are active degrees of freedom in the 15 dimensional microcanonical kinetics. The threshold energy for SiH4 dissociative chemisorption is found to be 19 kJ/mol, in quantitative agreement with recent GGA-DFT calculations. A simple scheme for increasing the rate of chemical vapor deposition of silicon from SiH4 at low surface temperatures is modeled.