STM induced hydrogen desorption via a hole resonance

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates STM-induced hydrogen desorption from silicon via vibrational heating caused by inelastic hole scattering, with a detailed analysis of the desorption rate dependence on bias and current.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach to calculate inelastic scattering including electric field effects, explaining the desorption behavior at specific biases.

Findings

Desorption rate follows a power-law dependence on current.

Maximum desorption occurs at -7 V bias.

Inelastic hole scattering explains vibrational heating leading to desorption.

Abstract

We report STM-induced desorption of H from Si(100)-H(2$\times1$) at negative sample bias. The desorption rate exhibits a power-law dependence on current and a maximum desorption rate at -7 V. The desorption is explained by vibrational heating of H due to inelastic scattering of tunneling holes with the Si-H 5$\sigma$ hole resonance. The dependence of desorption rate on current and bias is analyzed using a novel approach for calculating inelastic scattering, which includes the effect of the electric field between tip and sample. We show that the maximum desorption rate at -7 V is due to a maximum fraction of inelastically scattered electrons at the onset of the field emission regime.