Vibrational characterization of ethylene adsorption and its thermal evolution on Si(001)-(2X1): Identification of majority and minority species

The vibrational and structural properties of a single-domain Si(001)-(2X1) surface upon ethylene adsorption have been studied by density functional cluster calculations and high-resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy. The detailed analysis of the theoretically and the experimentally determined vibrational frequencies reveals two coexisting adsorbate configurations. The majority species consist of ethylene molecules which are di-sigma bonded to the two Si atoms of a single Si-Si dimer. The local symmetry of this adsorption complex is reduced to C-2 for ethylene saturation coverage as determined by surface selection rules for the vibrational excitation process. The symmetry reduction includes the rotation of the C-C bond around the surface normal and the twist of the methylene groups around the C-C axis. Experimentally, 17 ethylene-derived modes are found and assigned for the majority and the minority species based on a comparison with calculated vibrational frequencies. The minority species which can account up to 14% of the total ethylene coverage is spectroscopically identified for the first time. It is assigned to ethylene molecules di-sigma bonded to two adjacent Si-Si dimers (in an end-bridge configuration). One part of the minority species desorbs molecularly at 665 K, about 50 K higher than the majority species, whereas the remaining part dissociates to adsorbed acetylene at temperatures around 630 K. For the latter, a di-sigma end-bridge like bonding configuration is proposed based on a comparison with vibrational data for adsorbed acetylene on Si(100)-(2X1). (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3469974]