Electron induced adsorption, desorption and decomposition of ammonia on GaAs(100)

Abstract

The desorption and dissociation of ammonia adsorbed on (GaAs(100) occurs readily upon activation with 50 eV electrons. Complementary results from temperature programmed desorption and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy indicate that the cross-sections for parent desorption and for dissociation to NH_x (= 1, 2) are similar (10⁻¹⁶−10⁻¹⁷ cm²), whereas that for nitride production is two orders of magnitude smaller. All these are more than an order of magnitude higher than observed in analogous photon-driven reactions.