ANALYSIS AND MONTE-CARLO SIMULATIONS OF SPONTANEOUS ETCHING - CL-SI(100)-2X1

Scanning tunneling microscopy observations of the growth of Cl-induced etch pits on Si(100)-2 X 1 lend themselves to quantitative determinat ions of vacancy size distributions, particularly those that are linear or branched at solace point along the Linear pit. These result in rat e constants and energy differences for the dominant etching channels. By considering nearest-neighbor and second-nearest-neighbor interactio ns, we determine the attractive interaction energies between dimers in a row 0.28 eV and between dimers in adjacent rows, 0.22 eV, as well a s the repulsive second-neighbor dimers, -0.08 eV. These results are te sted by means of Monte Carlo simulations. (C) 1995 American Vacuum Soc iety.