Depth Profiling of Melting and Metallization in Si(111) and Si(001) Surfaces

R. Gunnella, M. Ali, M. Abbas, F. D’Amico, E. Principi, and A. Di Cicco

Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 166103 – Published 14 October 2011

Abstract

An original approach for measuring the depth profile of melting and metallization of the Si(111) and Si(001) surfaces is proposed and applied. The different probing depths of the Auger electron and electron energy loss (EELS) spectroscopies are exploited to study the number of molten and metallic layers within 5–30 Å from the surface up to about 1650 K. Melting is limited to 3 atomic layers in Si(001) in the range 1400–1650 K while the number of molten layers grows much faster (5 layers at about 1500 K) in Si(111) as also indicated by the $L_{3}$ -edge shift observed by EELS. The relationship between melting and metallization is briefly discussed.

Received 9 February 2011

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.166103

Authors & Affiliations

R. Gunnella¹, M. Ali^1,*, M. Abbas^1,†, F. D’Amico^2,1, E. Principi^2,1, and A. Di Cicco^1,‡

¹CNISM, Sezione Fisica, Scuola di Scienze e Tecnologie, Università di Camerino, via Madonna delle Carceri, I-62032 Camerino (MC), Italy
²Synchrotron ELETTRA, Strada Statale 14 - I-34149 Basovizza, Trieste, Italy

^*Present address: Department of Physics, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Park Road, Chak Shahzad, Islamabad, 44000, Pakistan.
^†Present address: LIOS, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Alltenberger Strasse 69, A-4040 Linz, Austria.
^‡Also at: IMPMC, Université Paris 6, CNRS, Campus Jussieu, 4 place Jussieu, 75005 Paris, France.

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Issue

Vol. 107, Iss. 16 — 14 October 2011

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