Fundamental aspects of the reactions of thermal and hyperthermal F, F-2, Cl, and Cl-2 with Si surfaces

Reactive neutral halogen interactions with silicon surfaces are being investigated as possibilities for processing technologies which minimize damage and the exposure of ultrathin dielectric films to charged particles. In order to assess the feasibility of this method, it is necessary to determine reactive adsorption probabilities for halogen atoms and molecules as a function of their kinetic and internal energy. In addition, it would be advantageous to determine atomic level mechanisms for the etching reactions under different surface conditions and for both equilibrium and nonequilibrium reactive interactions. In this article, a summary of this information is given for the interaction of silicon surfaces with fluorine and chlorine.