Adsorption mechanisms of NH ₃ on chlorinated Si(100)-2 × 1 surface

The potential energy surfaces of ammonia molecule adsorptions on the symmetrically chlorinated Si(100)-2 × 1 surface were explored with SIMOMM:MP2/6-31G(d). It was found that the initial nucleophilic attack by ammonia nitrogen to the surface Si forms a S _N2 type transition state, which eventually leads to an HCl molecular desorption. The second ammonia molecule adsorption requires much less reaction barrier, which can be rationalized by the surface cooperative effect. In general, it was shown that the surface Si-Cl bonds can be easily subjected to the substitution reactions by ammonia molecules yielding symmetric surface Si-NH ₂ bonds, which can be a good initial template for subsequent surface chemical modifications. The ammonia adsorptions are in general more facile than the corresponding water adsorption, since ammonia is better nucleophile.