Hydrogen peak concentration in the transition zone as a function of oxide film thickness

Investigation of the transition region between layers wet grown at and Si

“…Whereas positron annihilation spectroscopy is sensitive to the defect structure in the material, AES can be used to detect modifications of the chemical bonding of the atoms as a function of depth. The results of the positron and AES measurements agree qualitatively with those from SNMS measurements [5]. Together, the two methods can obtain more information about the SiO 2 /Si system and its transition region.…”

“…It could be shown that the transition region between SiO 2 and Si extends beyond a few atomic monolayers. The thickness of the zone seems to increase with increasing SiO 2 layer thickness, as already discussed in reference [5]. Further investigations are necessary to quantify this result.…”

“…Investigations using x-ray diffraction techniques have also pointed to thin transition regions of between 1 and 2 nm [4]. In contrast, depth profiling of oxygen and silicon (by secondary-neutral mass spectroscopy, SNMS) has indicated thicker transition regions [5]. For discussion of other techniques used to study transition regions the reader is referred to review papers [6,7].…”

“…The result is believed to indicate a densification of the SiO 2 layer remaining after the wet-chemical etching process is complete [8]. For a discussion of IRS studies of density variations of layers produced by dry oxidation at various temperatures see reference [5].…”

“…The present paper describes the performance of positron implantation spectroscopy in conjunction with oxygen and silicon depth profile determination by Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) in order to estimate thicknesses of this transition zone for different layers produced by wet oxidation on Si. This is regarded as a first but essential step towards a more precise determination of the nature of the transition, which has been discussed in structural, chemical, and electrical terms [5][6][7].…”