The dissociative adsorption of molecular hydrogen on silicon is considered to be the
prototype for an activated chemical reaction at a semiconductor surface. The covalent nature
of the silicon–silicon and silicon–hydrogen bonds lead to large lattice distortion in the
transition state of the reaction. As a result, the apparently simple reaction exhibits relatively
complex pathways and surprisingly rich dynamics. The report reviews, among others,
experiments using optical second-harmonic generation, molecular beam techniques and …