The formation of hydrogen passivated silicon single-crystal surfaces using ultraviolet cleaning and HF etching

We have tried to develop a new procedure to prepare the clean surface of a silicon single crystal. We successfully prepared the contamination free bare silicon surface with ultraviolet cleaning followed by HF dipping with low concentration HF obtained by dilution by organic free ultrapure water, at room temperature under the atmospheric condition. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy measurements proved thus prepared surface has a hydrogen monoatomic layer terminating the dangling bonds of silicon. The hydrogen termination was found to have remarkable passivation effect against surface oxidation reaction. A silicon thin-film epitaxially grown on the prepared surface was confirmed to have perfect crystal structure and high-purity level by scanning electron microscopy, reflection high-energy electron diffraction, Raman spectroscopy and secondary ion mass spectroscopy.