Structure and composition of chemically prepared and vacuum annealed InSb(001) surfaces

Abstract The InSb(0 0 1) surfaces chemically treated in HCl–isopropanol solution and annealed in vacuum were studied by means of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), low energy electron diffraction (LEED) and electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS). The HCl–isopropanol treatment removes indium and antimony oxides and leaves on the surface about 3 ML of physisorbed overlayer, containing indium chlorides and small amounts of antimony, which can be thermally desorbed at 230 °C. The residual carbon contaminations were around 0.2–0.4 ML and consisted of the hydrocarbon molecules. These hydrocarbon contaminations were removed from the surface together with the indium chlorides and antimony overlayer. With increased annealing temperature, a sequence of reconstructions were identified by LEED: (1 × 1), (1 × 3), (4 × 3), and (4 × 1)/c(8 × 2), in the order of decreasing Sb/In ratio. The structural properties of chemically prepared InSb(0 0 1) surface were found to be similar to those obtained by decapping of Sb-capped epitaxial layers.