HREELS investigation of hydrogenated GaAs(110) surface

The interaction of atomic hydrogen with the cleaved GaAs(110) surface has been investigated by high-resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy (HREELS), at primary energies of 5 and 15 eV, analysing the losses associated with three different mechanisms: (i) low-energy surface collective excitations (surface TO phonon and dopant-derived free-carrier plasmon); (ii) the stretching of the Ga-H and As-H bonds: and (iii) the electronic losses above the fundamental gap, involving both surface and bulk electronic states. The first kind of loss is very sensitive to H exposure and shows that hydrogen induces a band bending at the lowest exposures. The vibrational part of the spectrum indicates that the exposure of 104 L corresponds to a coverage of one monolayer and that H bonds to both Ga and As over the whole coverage range. The region of the electronic transitions indicates the disappearance of transitions of the clean surface and the appearance of new transitions characteristic of the H covered surface. At high exposures the growth of a very strong background is consistent with the presence of small metallic Ga clusters. This result is also consistent with the modifications, at the same exposures, of the low-energy region of the spectrum.