G. Eres et Jw. Sharp, INVESTIGATION OF THE KINETICS OF DIGERMANE CHEMISORPTION AND REACTION-PRODUCT DESORPTION IN THIN-FILM GROWTH OF GERMANIUM, Journal of vacuum science & technology. A. Vacuum, surfaces, and films, 11(5), 1993, pp. 2463-2471
The kinetics of the elementary reaction steps in surface-limited thin
film growth of germanium from digermane was investigated by utilizing
surface differential reflectance. Separation of the elementary reactio
n steps of chemisorption and reaction product desorption was achieved
by using a pulsed molecular beam to modulate the digermane delivery to
the heated substrate. Both elementary reaction steps were found to be
single exponential first-order processes. The chemisorption reaction
on Ge(100) was rapid (k1=500+/-50 s-1), and independent of the substra
te temperature between 680 and 810 K. On the other hand the desorption
step in the same substrate temperature range is strongly temperature
dependent with an activation energy of 1.7+/-0.1 eV and a prefactor of
2 X 10(13+/-1) s-1. A simple kinetic model comprised of two opposing
first-order elementary steps is found to be consistent with the experi
mental results. It is concluded that the kinetic data are compatible w
ith the pairing mechanism for molecular hydrogen desorption, but no (t
hermal) decomposition mechanism of digermane is found to provide a uni
que interpretation for the first-order adsorption kinetics.