I am using Si wafer as the substrate for the growth of 2D materials. What makes me feel confused is the composition on the surface. In other words, what is on the surface of Si wafer? What is the termination of Si wafer? Si-H, Si-OH, or SiO2?
Hi Yanan, if you want to know the composition of the surface I suggest you to run other analysis technique suac as high resolution of SEM-EDS , and FTIR or AFM.
If you want to know the termination of Si surface you will have to apply FTIR measurement instrument and generally you will find the three terminations you've mentioned. the SiO2 layer is etched by RCA process but you’ll have to keep your samples in N2 (Nitrogen) chamber to avoid natural oxidation in air.
In general, Si surface is protected by SiO2 (native oxide). You could etch this native oxide simply using HF. After HF treatment, the Si surface has Si-H termination for short period and again it will form a native oxide if O2 is available for surface reaction.
The native silicon wafer has thin layer of SiO2 which can be removed by etching with HF. XPS will be helpfull to get composition.
Native silicon Dioxide (SiO2) is formed when Silicon wafer is exposed to Atmospheric oxygen . If you want to grow the material on Silicon surface only then SiO2 is removed using the RCA cleaning method. This SiO2 layer is also called as barrier layer in MEMS fabrication.
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