STM-Induced Hydrogen Desorption via a Hole Resonance

We report STM-induced desorption of H from Sis100d-Hs2 3 1d at negative sample bias. The desorption rate exhibits a power-law dependence on current and a maximum desorption rate at 27 V. The desorption is explained by vibrational heating of H due to inelastic scattering of tunneling holes with the Si-H 5s hole resonance. The dependence of desorption rate on current and bias is analyzed using a novel approach for calculating inelastic scattering, which includes the effect of the electric field between tip and sample. We show that the maximum desorption rate at 27 V is due to a maximum fraction of inelastically scattered electrons at the onset of the field emission regime. [S00319007(98)05616-6]