Surface Preparation of InAs (110) Using Atomic Hydrogen

Atomic hydrogen cleaning has been used to produce structurally and electronically damage-free InAs(110) surfaces.  X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was used to obtain chemical composition and chemical state information about the surface, before and after the removal of the atmospheric contamination. Low energy electron diffraction (LEED) and high-resolution electron-energy-loss spectroscopy (HREELS) were also used, respectively, to determine the surface reconstruction and degree of surface ordering, and to probe the adsorbed contaminant vibrational modes and the collective excitations of the clean surface. Clean, ordered and stoichiometric  InAs(110)-(1×1) surfaces were obtained by exposure to thermally generated atomic hydrogen at a substrate temperature as low as 400ºC.  Semi-classical dielectric theory analysis of HREEL spectra of the phonon and plasmon excitations of the clean surface indicate that no electronic damage or dopant passivation were induced by the surface preparation method.