Study of an Effective Charge of Si Adatoms on a Si(111) 1×1 Surface

Abstract

The dc and ac parallel heating procedure was applied for quantitative study of in-phase step wandering (IPSW), which is one of the step instabilities on a Si(111) vicinal surface induced by surface electromigration of Si adatoms. By controlling dc component of heating current (or applied field) and temperature individually, dc current (or dc field) and temperature dependences of the period of the IPSW pattern were investigated. Temperature dependence of an effective charge of Si adatoms on a Si(111) 1×1 surface was evaluated and the effective charge was approximately 0.02 at 1270 K and it linearly decreased with temperature.