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Scanning tunneling spectroscopy reveals a silicon dangling bond charge state transition

We report the study of single dangling bonds (DB) on the hydrogen terminated silicon (100) surface using a low temperature scanning tunneling microscope (LT-STM). By investigating samples prepared with different annealing temperatures, we establish the critical role of subsurface arsenic dopants on the DB electronic properties. We show that when the near surface concentration of dopants is depleted as a result of $1250°C$ flash anneals, a single DB exhibits a sharp conduction step in its I(V) spectroscopy that is not due to a density of states effect but rather corresponds to a DB charge state transition. The voltage position of this transition is perfectly correlated with bias dependent changes in STM images of the DB at different charge states. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations further highlight the role of subsurface dopants on DB properties by showing the influence of the DB-dopant distance on the DB state. We discuss possible theoretical models of electronic transport through the DB that could account for our experimental observations.