Laser-induced desorption of adatoms on Si(100)-2×1 surface

Laser-induced desorption is studied for the Si(100)-2×1 surface with metastable adatoms of Si introduced by room-temperature deposition. Desorption of Si atoms is induced at a specific type of adatom configurations with a yield dependent on fluence super-linearly. This super-linear dependence of the desorption yield can be described satisfactorily by the two-hole localization mechanism. Also, analysis of the desorption yield in terms of a rate equation model indicates that the configuration reactive to desorption is transformed efficiently into different aggregated forms upon photoexcitation.