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It is shown that charge transfer, the process analogous to formation of semiconductor p-n junction, contributes significantly to adsorption energy at semiconductor surfaces. For the processes without the charge transfer, such as molecular adsorption of closed shell systems, the adsorption energy is determined by the bonding only. In the case involving charge transfer, such as open shell systems like metal atoms or the dissociating molecules, the energy attains different value for the Fermi level differently pinned. The Density Functional Theory (DFT) simulation of species adsorption at different surfaces, such as SiC(0001) or GaN(0001) confirms these predictions: the molecular adsorption is independent on the coverage, while the dissociative process adsorption energy varies by several electronvolts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chemical adsorption of the species at semiconductor surfaces is analyzed showing the existence of the two contributions to adsorption energy: bond creation and charge transfer. It is shown that the energy of quantum surface states is affected by the electric field at the surface, nevertheless, the potential contribution of electron and nuclei cancels out. The charge transfer contribution is Fermi level independent for pinned surfaces. Thus for Fermi level pinned at the surface, the adsorption energy is independent on the Fermi energy, i.e., the doping in the bulk. The DFT simulations of adsorption of hydrogen at clean GaN(0001) and silicon at SiC(0001) surfaces confirmed independence of adsorption energy on the doping in the bulk. For the Fermi level nonpinned surfaces, the charge contribution depends on the position of Fermi level in the bulk. Thus adsorption energy is sensitive to change of the Fermi energy in the bulk, i.e., the doping. The DFT simulations of adsorption of atomic hydrogen at 0.75 ML hydrogen covered GaN(0001) surface confirmed that the adsorption energy may be changed by about 2 eV by the doping change from n- to p-type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adsorption of ammonia at NH3/NH2/H-covered GaN(0001) surface was analyzed using results of ab initio calculations. The whole configuration space of partially NH3/NH2/H-covered GaN(0001) surface was divided into zones of differently pinned Fermi level: at the Ga broken bond state for dominantly bare surface (region I), at the valence band maximum (VBM) for NH2 and H-covered surface (region II), and at the conduction band minimum (CBM) for NH3-covered surface (region III). The electron counting rule (ECR) extension was formulated for the case of adsorbed molecules. The extensive ab intio calculations show the validity of the ECR in case of all mixed H-NH2-NH3 coverages for the determination of the borders between the three regions. The adsorption was analyzed using the recently identified dependence of the adsorption energy on the charge transfer at the surface. For region I ammonia adsorbs dissociatively, disintegrating into a H adatom and a HN2 radical for a large fraction of vacant sites, while for region II adsorption of ammonia is molecular. The dissociative adsorption energy strongly depends on the Fermi level at the surface (pinned) and in the bulk (unpinned) while the molecular adsorption energy is determined by bonding to surface only, in accordance to the recently published theory. Adsorption of Ammonia in region III (Fermi level pinned at CBM) leads to an unstable configuration both molecular and dissociative, which is explained by the fact that broken Ga-bonds are doubly occupied by electrons. The adsorbing ammonia brings 8 electrons to the surface, necessitating the transfer of these two electrons from the Ga broken bond state to the Fermi level. This is an energetically costly process. Adsorption of ammonia at H-covered site leads to the creation of a NH2 radical at the surface and escape of H2 molecule. The process energy is close to 0.12 eV, thus not large, but the direct inverse process is not possible due to the escape of the hydrogen molecule. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were used to study GaN(0001) surface covered with NH3 admolecules and NH2 radicals, corresponding to physical conditions during GaN growth by hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE) and metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE). Using larger representation of the surface i.e. slabs of lateral size 4x4, the effect of the doping was examined. It is shown that for specific surface coverage the electron counting (EC) rule is fulfilled so that the pinning of the Fermi level by surface states and band bending disappears. In this case, according to Krukowski et al. (2013) [14], the doping of the semiconductor (n- or p-type) and the related Fermi level are extremely important for stability of the surface and the adsorption/desorption processes. The difference in adsorption energies of gallium atoms at n- and p-type GaN(0001) surface exceeds the energy gap. This effect is observed in a narrow range of surface coverage, therefore cannot be detected in the calculations using small systems i.e. 2x2 slabs. This new phenomenon may be crucial for the growth of GaN and the incorporation of dopants and impurities into semiconductor crystals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Density Functional Theory (DFT) simulations of ammonia adsorption at clean and H-covered surface confirmed that ammonia may dissociate into NH2 radical and H adatom or remain in the molecular form. The remaining hydrogen atoms are attached to Ga atoms where the charge transfer to the surface is possible. The calculations show that for the molecular process, the ammonia adsorption energy is close to 2.0 eV, independent of hydrogen coverage. The dissociative process is strongly H-coverage dependent, for low H-coverage the adsorption energy is close to 2.8 eV, for high coverage changes by more than 4 eV reaching negative values. Thus for low coverage the energetically preferred adsorption is dissociative, for high is molecular. The dissociation energy and preferred mode change are related to the change of the Fermi level pinning from Ga broken bond state to valence band maximum (VBM), confirming the decisive role of charge transfer in the adsorption processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Adsorption of atomic and molecular hydrogen at clean and H-covered GaN(0001) surface was investigated by Density Functional Theory (DFT) simulations using slab models with different terminations of the opposite surface, corresponding to various electric fields in the solid at the surface. According to DFT results adsorption of hydrogen atoms is barrierless, leading to their attachment on top of gallium surface atoms. For H-coverage up to 0.75ML, H atom adsorption energy exceeds 3eV, partly due to transfer of electron from high energy Ga surface state, the process that contributes to the energy gain, while for higher coverage the adsorption energy falls down to about 1eV because the Ga surface state is empty. For H-coverage up to 1ML adsorption of molecular hydrogen is dissociative while for higher it is molecular with its energy equal to 0.16eV only. For H-coverage below 0.75ML, the energy gain at molecular hydrogen adsorption exceeds 2eV but for H-coverage above 0.75ML, the energy loss exceeding 2eV was obtained. For the critical 0.75ML coverage, the adsorption energy is strongly electric field dependent, being negative and positive for p-GaN and n-GaN respectively, having its overall field related variation exceeding 1.5eV. The DFT results are in good agreement with the experimental data. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]