Jan. 28, 1998 By DAVID WILLIAMSON UNC-CH News Services CHAPEL
HILL -- Using a sophisticated device known as a scanning
tunneling microscope, chemists at the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill for the first time have observed
directly how hydrogen atoms behave and bond to surfaces at high
temperatures. What the scientists have seen is a form of atomic
Ping-Pong in which hydrogen atoms unpair, hop back and forth on
the surface of silicon and sometimes even exchange partners.
Their work is important, they say, because it helps explain what
happens during silicon growth and related processes central to
microelectronics manufacturing and other industries. One of the
chemists, Dr. John J. Boland, an associate professor, likened
the reactions to a high school romance. "These pairs are
constantly splitting up and getting back together," Boland said.
"Occasionally, a third party comes along, and a new pair is
formed." A report on the findings appears in the Jan. 23 issue
of the journal Science. Besides Boland