Local removal of silicon layers on Si(100)-2x1 with chlorine-resist STM lithography

Abstract

We report the realization of STM-based lithography with silicon layers removal on the chlorinated Si(100)-2x1 surface at 77 K. In contrast to other STM lithography studies, we were able to remove locally both chlorine and silicon atoms. Most of the etched pits have a lateral size of 10-20 A and a depth of 1-5 A. In the pits in which the STM image with atomic resolution is obtained, the bottom is mainly covered with chlorine. Some pits contain chlorine vacancies. Mechanisms of STM-induced removal of silicon and chlorine atoms on Si(100)-2x1-Cl are discussed and compared with the well-studied case of STM-induced hydrogen desorption on Si(100)-2x1-H. The results open up new possibilities of the three-dimensional local etching with STM lithography.

References in corpus (6)

• Two-Electron Spin Correlations in Precision Placed Donors in Silicon
• First principles theory of inelastic currents in a scanning tunneling microscope
• Scanning tunneling spectroscopy reveals a silicon dangling bond charge state transition
• Addressable electron spin resonance using donors and donor molecules in silicon
• STM-induced desorption and lithographic patterning of Cl-Si(100)-(2x1)
• First-Principle Study of Phosphine Adsorption on Si(001)-2$\times$1-Cl

Cited by in corpus (9)

• Roadmap on Atomic-scale Semiconductor Devices
• Chlorine insertion and manipulation on the Si(100)-2x1-Cl surface in the regime of local supersaturation
• Dangling bonds on the Cl- and Br-terminated Si(100) surfaces
• PBr3 Adsorption and Dissociation on the Si(100) Surface
• Hydrogen inserted into the Si(100)-2x1-H surface: A first-principles study
• Transitions between positive and negative charge states of dangling bonds on a halogenated Si(100) surface
• Enhancing the reactivity of Si(100)-Cl toward PBr3 by charging Si dangling bonds
• Dopant Precursor Adsorption into Single-Dimer Windows: Towards Guided Self-Assembly of Dopant Arrays on Si(100)
• Reactivity of the Si(100)-2$\times$1-Cl surface with respect to PH${}_3$, PCl${}_3$, and BCl${}_3$: Comparison with PH${}_3$ on Si(100)-2$\times$1-H