Atomic-scale desorption of H atoms from the Si(100)-2x1:H surface:: Inelastic electron interactions -: art. no. 035303

The atomic-scale desorption of hydrogen atoms from the Si(100)-2x1:H surface with the tip of the scanning tunneling microscope has been studied using two different desorption methods, namely the stationary and scanning modes. Both p-type and n-type silicon samples have been investigated and a statistical large data set has been acquired. At low sample voltage (+2.5 V), the desorption yield has been found to follow a power law of the tunnel current I-alpha, with alpha being much smaller (approximate to1) than in previous reports (approximate to10-15). This means that highly dissipative inelastic electronic channels with very few electrons involved (approximate to2) are more favorable than previously proposed schemes involving many (approximate to11-16) weakly dissipative electrons.