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Hydrogen Ion Beam Smoothening of Oxygen Roughened Ge(001) Surfaces
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 February 2011
Abstract
A smooth Ge(001) surface can be severely roughened by chemical etching with oxygen gas and then returned to its original smoothness by exposure to hydrogen. The rate of recovery of the surface depends strongly on temperature, as well as on whether the hydrogen is introduced as a low energy ion beam or simply as a gas. The roughness induced in the surface by etching is “locked-in” after removal of the oxygen gas through pinning of ledges by residual contamination. This pinning prevents the surface from smoothening thermally. The introduction of hydrogen to the surface promotes a chemical reaction which frees the pinned sites and allows thermal smoothening to proceed.
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- Copyright © Materials Research Society 1989