Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-7drxs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-18T14:17:58.374Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Si/SiO2 Interface: Atomic Structures, Composition, Strain And Energetics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2020

S. J. Pennycook ,
G. Duscher ,
R. Buczko  and
S. T. Pantelides
S. J. Pennycook
Affiliation:
Solid State Division, Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, P.O. Box 2008, Oak Ridge, TN37831 Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN37235
G. Duscher
Affiliation:
Solid State Division, Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, P.O. Box 2008, Oak Ridge, TN37831 Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN37235
R. Buczko*
Affiliation:
Solid State Division, Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, P.O. Box 2008, Oak Ridge, TN37831 Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN37235
S. T. Pantelides
Affiliation:
Solid State Division, Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, P.O. Box 2008, Oak Ridge, TN37831 Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN37235
*
*On leave from:Institute of Physics Polish Academy of Sciences, 02-668 Warsaw, Poland. This research was sponsored by the Division of Materials Sciences, USDOE, under contract DE-AC05-96OR22464
Get access

Extract

A number of recent studies of grain boundaries and heterophase interfaces have demonstrated the power of combining Z-contrast STEM imaging, EELS and first-principles theoretical modeling to give an essentially complete atomic scale description of structure, bonding and energetics. Impurity sites and valence can be determined experimentally and configurations determined through calculations.

Here we present an investigation of the Si/SiO2 interface. The Z-contrast image in Fig. la, taken with the VG Microscopes HB603U STEM, shows that the atomic structure of Si is maintained up to the last layers visible. The decrease in intensity near the interface could originate from interfacial roughness of around one unit cell (∼0.5 nm), or may represent dechanneling in the slightly buckled columns induced by the oxide. Fig. lb, taken from a sample with ∼1 nm interface roughness, shows a band of bright contrast near the interface. This is not due to impurities or thickness variation since it disappears on increasing the detector angle from 25 mrad to 45 mrad (Fig. lc), and is therefore due to induced strain.

Type
Atomic Structure And Microchemistry Of Interfaces
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 5 , Issue S2: Proceedings: Microscopy & Microanalysis '99, Microscopy Society of America 57th Annual Meeting, Microbeam Analysis Society 33rd Annual Meeting, Portland, Oregon August 1-5, 1999 , August 1999 , pp. 122 - 123
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America

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

1.Chisholm, M. F., Maiti, A., Pennycook, S. J., and Pantelides, S. T., Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 132 (1998).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2.Yan, Y., et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 3675 (1998).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3.Dickey, E. C., et al., Acta Mater. 46, 1801 (1998).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4.Duscher, G., Browning, N. D., and Pennycook, S. J.Phys. Stat. Sol. (a) 166, 327 (1998).3.0.CO;2-R>CrossRef3.0.CO;2-R>Google Scholar
5.Duscher, G., et al., p. 191 in Characterization and Metrology for ULSI Technology: 1998 International Conference, The American Institute of Physics, Woodbury, New York, 1998Google Scholar