Soft x-ray-excited angle-resolved photoemission results for nitride films formed using nitrogen–hydrogen radicals on Si(100), Si(111), and Si(110) are reported. The data were obtained using synchrotron radiation, which allowed the Si 2p, N 1s, and O 1s levels to be investigated with the same probing depth. The following main results were obtained: (1) the Si3N4 film is covered with one monolayer of Si–(OH)3N. Its areal density is 15% smaller on Si(111) than on Si(100) and Si (110), (2) the Si3N4/Si interfaces on all three surfaces are compositionally abrupt. This conclusion is based on the observation that no Si atoms bonded with three N atoms and one Si atom were detected, and (3) the observation that the number of Si–H bonds at the Si3N4/Si(110) interface is 38%–53% larger than those at the Si3N4/Si(100) and Si3N4/Si(111) interfaces indicates a dependence of the interface structure on the orientation of the substrate.

High quality Si 3 N 4 film was formed by the nitridation of Si(110) surface using radical NH. It was found that the gate leakage current through the Si 3 N 4 film is three orders of magnitude smaller than that through the conventional SiO 2 film, and the interface states density at midgap for Si 3 N 4 /Si interface is less than 5 Â 10 10 eV À1 cm À2 . High-resolution soft-X-ray-excited Si 2p spectra were measured for the Si 3 N 4 films formed on Si(100), Si(110) and Si(111). It was found that the crystal orientation of the Si substrate affects the amount of intermediate nitridation states of Si at the Si 3 N 4 /Si interface.

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