Influence of electron saturation of Tamm levels on the field-emission properties of silicon crystals

Abstract

It has been shown that the plasma-chemical modification of the morphology and composition of the surface phase influences the emissivity of silicon crystals. It has been found that the saturation of Tamm states with electrons during the preparation of atomically clean silicon surfaces, along with stabilizing passivation of surface atoms in a highly ionized microwave plasma using Halon 14, decreases a threshold electric field at which field emission begins more than twofold and increases the maximal density of the field emission current by more than an order of magnitude compared with wafers covered by native oxide or subjected to ion physical etching in argon. Physicochemical mechanisms responsible for the modification of the silicon surface and the field-emission properties of silicon have been considered.