Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-rkxrd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-18T08:51:50.280Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Composition and structure of native oxide on silicon by high resolution analytical electron microscopy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2011

M. J. Kim  and
R. W. Carpenter
M. J. Kim
Affiliation:
Center for Solid State Science, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287-1704
R. W. Carpenter
Affiliation:
Center for Solid State Science, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287-1704
Get access

Abstract

Compositional analysis of thin nanoscale native oxide films formed on {001} silicon wafer surfaces at room temperature was done with an electron energy loss spectrometer coupled to an analytical electron microscope having a field emission source, with better than 4 nm spatial resolution. The electron energy loss spectra show a shift in the threshold onset energy of the Si–L edge of the native oxide from ∼99 eV loss corresponding to pure elemental silicon to ∼105 eV loss, and elemental analysis using the ionization regions of the core loss edges showed the composition to be SiO, within a few percent. Microdiffraction and high resolution electron microscopy (HREM) results showed that the native oxide was completely amorphous, and did not contain detectable nanocrystals. The native oxide can be removed from the Si surface by heating in UHV for a short time at 1000 °C. However, this procedure resulted in the formation of small amounts of a crystalline phase on the Si wafer surface, which was shown to be β-SiC by the same methods.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 5 , Issue 2 , February 1990 , pp. 347 - 351
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1990

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1Raider, S.I.,Flitsch, R., and Palmer, M. J.J. Electrochem. Soc. 122, 413 (1975).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2Philipp, H. R. and Taft, E. A.,Appl, J..Phys.53, 5224 (1982).Google Scholar
3Wong, J., Jefferson, D.A., Sparrow, T. G.,Thomas, J. M,Milne, R. H.,Howie, A., and Koch, E. F.,Appl. Phys. Lett. 48, 65 (1986).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4Kim, M. J. and Carpenter, R.W., Ultramicroscopy 21, 327 (1987).Google Scholar
5Iijima, S., in Proc. 46th Annual EMSA Meeting, Milwaukee, WI, edited by Bailey, G.W. (San Francisco Press, San Francisco, CA,1988), p. 1101Google Scholar
6Zaluzec, N. J., in Proc. 38th Annual EMSA Meeting, Reno, N V, edited by Bailey, G.W. (Claitor's, Baton Rouge, LA, 1980), p. 112.Google Scholar
7Egerton, R. F., Phil. Mag. 31, 199 (1975).Google Scholar
8Skiff, W. M., Carpenter, R.W.,Lin, S. H., and Higgs, A., Ultramicroscopy 25, 47 (1988).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9Egerton, R. F., Ultramicroscopy 4, 169 (1979).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10Egerton, R. F., in Proc. 39th Annual EMSA Meeting, Atlanta, GA, edited by Bailey, G.W. (Claitor's, Baton Rouge, LA, 1981), p. 198.Google Scholar
11Silcox, J., in Introduction to Analytical Electron Microscopy, edited byHren, J. J.,Goldstein, J.I., and Joy, D.C. (Plenum, New York, 1979), pp. 295–304.Google Scholar
12Skiff, W. M., Carpenter, R.W., and Lin, S. H., J. Appl. Phys. 62 2439 (1987).Google Scholar
13Joy, D. C. and Maher, D. M., Inst. of Phys. Conf. Ser. No. 60, 229 (1981).Google Scholar
14Skiff, W. M., Carpenter, R.W., and Lin, S. H., J. Appl. Phys. 64, 6328 (1988).Google Scholar
15Batson, P. E.,Solid State Commun. 34, 477 (1980).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
16Yang, K. H.,Anderson, R., and Kappert, H.F., Appl. Phys. Lett. 33,225 (1978).Google Scholar
17Shaffer, P.T. B., Acta Cryst. B25, 477 (1969).Google Scholar
I8Schlichting, J., Czack, G., Koch-Bienemann, E., Kuhn, P., and Schroder, F., in Gmelin Handbook of Inorganic Chemistry, 8th ed., Supplement Vol. B2, Properties of Crystalline Silicon Carbide, edited by Kirschstein, G. and Koschel, D. (Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1984).Google Scholar
19Heuer, A. H., Fryburg, G.A., Ogbuji, L.U., and Mitchell, T.E.J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 61, 406 (1978).Google Scholar
20Long, N. J., Skiff, W. M., Higgs, A., Carpenter, R.W, and Lyman, C. E., in Proc. 43rd Annual EMSA Meeting, Louisville, KY, edited by Bailey, G.W. (San Francisco Press, San Francisco, CA, 1985), p. 408.Google Scholar
21Chowdhury, K. Das, Carpenter, R.W., and Weiss, J. K., in Proc. 47th Annual EMSA Meeting, San Antonio, TX, edited by Bailey, G.W. (San Francisco Press, San Francisco, CA, 1989), p. 428.Google Scholar
22Brady, G.W., J. Phys. Chem. 63, 1119 (1959).Google Scholar