Reactions of some [C, N, O]-containing molecules with Si surfaces: Experimental and theoretical studies

Mechanistic understanding of the reactions of small molecules containing C, N and O with Si surfaces is not only fundamentally interesting but also practically important to the development of SiC, SiN, SiO, SiCN and diamond thin films. This article reviews the recent experimental and theoretical work on the reactions of a dozen of [C, N, O]-containing molecules with single-crystal surfaces of Si, including N precursors (ammonia (NH₃), hydrazine (N₂H₄) and hydrazoic acid (HN₃)), CO-containing molecules (carbon monoxide (CO), formaldehyde (CH₂O), acetaldehyde (CH₃CHO), formic acid (HCOOH), methanol (CH₃OH) and ketene (CH₂CO)), CN-containing molecules (hydrogen cyanide (HCN), cyanogen (C₂N₂), acetonitrile (CH₃CN) and methylhydrazine (CH₃N₂H₃)), a CNO-containing molecule (formamide (NH₂CHO)) and some aromatic heterocyclic compounds (pyrrole (C₄H₅N), thiophene (C₄H₄S), furan (C₄H₄O), pyridine (C₅H₅N), pyrazine (C₄H₄N₂) and s-triazine (C₃H₃N₃)).