Hydrogen desorption from the monohydride phase on Si(100)

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Abstract
The kinetics of the thermal recombinative desorption of hydrogen from the monohydride phase on the Si(100) surface has been studied by laser-induced thermal desorption (LITD). A rate law that is first order in the atomic hydrogen coverage with an activation energy of 45 kcal/mol gives an accurate fit to the data over a temperature range of 685–790 K and a coverage range of 0.006 to 1.0 monolayer. A new mechanism is proposed to explain these surprising results, namely, that the rate limiting step of the reaction is the promotion of a hydrogen atom from a localized bonding site to a delocalized band state. The delocalized atom then reacts with a localized atom to produce molecular hydrogen which desorbs. Evidence to support these conclusions comes from isotopic mixing experiments. Studies of recombinative desorption from other surfaces of silicon, which had been assumed to obey second-order kinetics, are discussed in the light of these results.