A wet method was developed for the preparation of atomically defect-free wafer surfaces. In the case of conventional treatments which used NH4F aqueous solution, dissolved O was shown to form defects at the (111) surface. It was possible to create an atomically smooth H-terminated surface having a good periodic step/terrace structure. This surface structure was confirmed to exist all over the wafer surface. Such an atomic-scale defect-free H-terminated wafer surface having a periodic step/terrace structure was expected to be very useful as a substrate for nanostructure fabrication and. high-quality film deposition.

Atomic-Scale Defect Control on Hydrogen-Terminated Silicon Surface at Wafer Scale. H.Sakaue, S.Fujiwara, S.Shingubara, T.Takahagi: Applied Physics Letters, 2001, 78[3], 309-11