A modified Stillinger-Weber potential for modelling silicon surfaces
surface s c i e n c e ELSEVIER
Surface Science 366 (1996) 177-184
A modified Stillinger-Weber potential for modelling silicon surfaces P . C . L , S...
A modified Stillinger-Weber potential for modelling silicon surfaces P . C . L , S t e p h e n s o n 1, M . W . R a d n y , P . V . S m i t h * Physics Department, University of Newcastle, Callaghan NSW2308, Australia
Received 8 May 1995; accepted for publication 23 April 1996
Abstract
The widely used Stillinger-Weber potential for silicon interactions has been modified to provide an accurate description of the Si(lll)q7 x 7) surface including the highly reactive adatom and rest-atom sites. This modified potential also provides a good representation of bulk silicon, and the Si(001)-(1 x 1), Si(001)-(2 x 1), Si( 111)-( 1 x 1t and Si( 111)-(2 x 1) surfaces. Above the melting temperature of 1683 K, however, the original Stillinger-Weber potential is probably superior. Keywords: Adatoms; Computer simulations; Low index single crystal surfaces; Molecular dynamics; Semi-empirical models and model calculations; Silicon; Surface relaxation and reconstruction; Surface structure, morphology, roughness, and topography
1. Introduction
Many molecular dynamics (MD) simulations use analytic potentials to model the interactions between atoms. A commonly employed potential for describing silicon interactions is the Stillinger-Weber (SW) potential [1]. This potential has been used to simulate bulk silicon [ ! ], the (001) and (111) surfaces of silicon [ 2 - 5 ] , and the etching of the Si(001)-(2 x 1) surface by fluorine [ 5 - 8 ] . While providing a good representation of the (1 x 1) and ( 2 x 1) (001) and (111) surfaces of silicon, this potential fails to provide an accurate description of the adatoms of the S i ( l l l ) - ( 7 x 7 ) surface [9]. The latter is important because initial
* Corresponding author. Fax: + 61 49 216907; e-mail: [email protected] i Present address: Physics Laboratory, University of Kent at Canterbury, CT2 7NR, UK.
chemisorption on the (7 x 7) reconstructed Si(111) surface occurs predominantly at the dangling-bond adatom and rest-atom sites. Recent ab initio calculations, for example, have shown that fluorine and chlorine atoms are readily chemisorbed near the adatom and rest-atom sites of the Si(111)-(7 x 7) surface and form the various SiFx and SiClx species which are the precursors to silicon surface etching [ 10,11]. Thus, in order to simulate processes such as the etching of the S i ( l l l ) - ( 7 x 7 ) surface by atomic fluorine and chlorine, it is essential that the adatom and rest-atom sites, and their immediate environment, be modelled accurately. The aim of the present work, therefore, is to modify the original SW potential to provide a good description of the highly complex Si( 111 )-(7 x 7) surface, in addition to the bulk solid and silicon surfaces already well modelled by the SW potential. This will provide the basis for reliable M D simulations of the S i ( l l l ) - ( 7 x 7 ) surface and the various reac-
P. C.L. Stephenson et al./Surface Science 366 (1996) 177-184
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tions that occur on this very important surface. In particular, it will enable simulations of the interaction of fluorine with the Si(lll)-(7 ×7) surface analogous to the original SW potential calculations for the (001) surface of silicon [ 5-8]. Such calculations constitute a natural extension of the abovementioned total-energy calculations and should permit these halogen chemisorption and etching processes, which are very important technologically, to be studied dynamically at a variety of different temperatures and exposures.
2. The Stiilinger-Weber potential The SW potential for interactions between silicon atoms can be written as the sum of two-body and three-body interaction terms, denoted f2 and f3, respectively [1]. In terms of the energy and length units e=2.1672 eV and a=2.0951 A, these can be written as
{A(Br~4-1)exp[~(rij-a)-t],rij<_a f2(rij) =
diamond structure as the most stable periodic arrangement of atoms at low pressure, and that the melting point and fluid structure, as calculated from molecular dynamics simulations, are in agreement with experimental results. No surface properties were considered in this fitting procedure, although some surfaces are reasonably well described by this SW potential. Calculations with this potential provide a good description of the rest-atom sites on the Si(lll)-(7 x 7) surface but predict the adatoms to be approximately 0.6 ,~ higher than the empirically determined LEED positions (see Table 1). This results in significantly larger bond lengths and bond angles for the adatom sites than the values of around 2.35 A and 60 ° obtained from fitting the LEED data [12]. The adatom binding energies yielded by this potential are also much smaller than the results obtained from first-principles calculations (see Table 2). It thus follows that some modification of the SW potential is required to provide an adequate description of both the rest-atom and adatom sites of the Si(lll)-(7 x 7) surface.
otherwise
(1) and
3. The modified potential
f 3(ri,rj,rk) = h(rij,rik,Ojik) + h(rij,rkj,Oijk) + h(rik,rkj,Oikj),