Full field chemical imaging of buried native sub-oxide layers on doped silicon patterns

F. de La Peña (1) , N. Barrett (2) , L.F. Zagonel (1) , M. Walls (1) , O. Renault (3)

1 LPS - Laboratoire de Physique des Solides
2 SPCSI - Service de Physique et de Chimie des Surfaces et Interfaces
3 CEA-LETI - Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives - Laboratoire d'Electronique et de Technologie de l'Information

Fully energy-filtered X-ray photoelectron emission microscopy is used to analyze the spatial distribution of the silicon sub-oxide structure at the SiO 2 /Si interface as a function of underlying doping pattern. Using a spectroscopic pixel-by-pixel curve fitting analysis, we obtain the sub-oxide binding energy and intensity distributions over the full field of view. Binding energy maps for each oxidation state are obtained with a spatial resolution of 120 nm. Within the framework of a five-layer model, the experimental data are used to obtain quantitative maps of the sub-oxide layer thickness and also their spatial distribution over the p–n junctions. Variations in the sub-oxide thicknesses are found to be linked to the level and type of doping. The procedure, which takes into account instrumental artefacts, enables the quantitative analysis of the full 3D dataset.

Mots clés: Semiconductor–insulator interfaces; Semiconductor–semiconductor thin film structures; Silicon oxides; Photoelectron emission; Synchrotron radiation photoelectron spectroscopy; Photoelectron emission microscopy (XPEEM)

Domaines: Physique [physics]; Science des matériaux [cond-mat.mtrl-sci]

F. de La Peña, N. Barrett, L.F. Zagonel, M. Walls, O. Renault. Full field chemical imaging of buried native sub-oxide layers on doped silicon patterns. Applications of Surface Science, 2010, 604 (19-20), pp.1628 - 1636. ⟨10.1016/j.susc.2010.06.006⟩. ⟨hal-01114166⟩