Density Functional Theory Study for Adsorption of Oxygen and Water Molecules on 6H-SiC(0001) Surface

6H-SiC is an important semiconductor material. The 6H-SiC wafer is always exposed to a high-humidity environment and the effect from the absorbed water molecule and some relative adsorbates is not negligible. Here, the oxygen and water molecules absorbed on the 6H-SiC(0001) surface and the dissociation process were studied with density functional theory. On the 6H-SiC(0001) surface, absorbed O₂ is spontaneously dissociated into O^*, which is absorbed on a hollow site, and further transforms the 6H-SiC(0001) surface into SiO₂. The absorbed H₂O is spontaneously broken into OH^*and H^*, which are both absorbed on the top of the Si atom, and OH^* is further reversibly transformed into O^* and H^*. The H^* could saturate the dangling Si bond and change the absorption type of O^*, which could stabilize the 6H-SiC(0001) surface and prevent it from transforming into SiO₂.