Hydrogen-terminated silicon surface with water

Thus, unless in a vacuum, the surface of silicon is never clean because of the adsorption by foreign species. As will be seen in the following sections, the type of termination, in terms of chemical nature, thickness, and composition, is a function of how the surface is prepared and cleaned. In particular, the surface cleaned with HF solutions, which are widely used for preparation of silicon surfaces, is known to be hydrogen terminated. On the other hand, in water and non-HF solutions, silicon surfaces tend to be covered with an oxide film. Employing certain treatment processes, the surface of siheon can be terminated by different species—and/or F and/or OH—using different cleaning solutions as shown in Table 2.7. ... 

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