Laser studies of the reactivity of NH(X3Σ-) with the surface of silicon nitride

The reactivity of NH(X{sup 3}{Sigma}{sup {minus}}) with the surface of both a silicon nitride film and a depositing hydrogenated silicon nitride film has been measured to be essentially zero with an upper limit of 0.1 for substrate temperatures of 300-700 K. The reactivity was directly determined using spatially resolved laser-induced fluorescence of NH in a plasma-generated molecular beam incident on the surface. The NH adsorbs and then desorbs from the surface with a a spatial distribution consistent with a cosine angular distribution. No dependence of reactivity on rotational state of the NH was observed. 27 refs., 8 figs.