Oxide thickness dependence of swift heavy ion-induced surface tracks formation in silicon dioxide on silicon structures at grazing incidence

Abstract

The influence of the oxide thickness in the surface tracks formation in thin silicon dioxide layered-silicon substrate (SiO2-Si) irradiated with swift heavy ion is dealt with. In this respect, SiO2-Si samples with different oxide thicknesses have been characterized using atomic force microscopy before and after 7.51 MeV/u Xe ion irradiation at a grazing incident angle of 1° relative to the surface plane. Experimental evidence of the existence of a threshold thickness in the formation of swift heavy ion-induced surface tracks has been addressed and discussed according to the thermal spike theory. This experimental upshot can be helpful when assessing metal–oxide–semiconductor ultrathin-gate oxide reliability issues and for growth of silicon-based nanostructures.

Multiple excitation of Fuchs–Kliewer phonons by Ne+ions back-scattered by the LiF(100) surface at grazing incidence

“…in Borisov et al experiments [1], may have relevant implications in the theory and practice of ion scattering from material surfaces, recently proposed as a method for the realization of surface nano-structures. The patterning of oxide surfaces [2], nanoscale self-organization [3], and the formation of nanodots and hillock chains on ionic surfaces [4][5][6][7] are just a few examples of surface nano-engineering based on grazing incidence ion beams.…”

Impact of Radiation on the Operation and Reliability of Deep Submicron CMOS Technologies

“…While electrical measurements are easy to perform and give an idea about the average impact of latent damage it does not provide sufficient spatial resolution to identify its possible origin. This can be achieved by Scanning Probe techniques based on Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) [26][27][28][29][30][31][32]. Besides topographical information, one can also obtain electrical information, using conductive-mode AFM, directly on the ion spot [27].…”

“…Besides topographical information, one can also obtain electrical information, using conductive-mode AFM, directly on the ion spot [27]. In this way, also the presence of ion tracks on the surface of SiO 2 has been investigated [28][29][30]. In combination with HF etching, it was demonstrated that an ion track gives rise to a nanodot near the surface, below which silicon bumps at the Si-SiO 2 interface are found [29].…”

Nanopatterning surfaces by grazing incidence swift heavy ion irradiation

“…While not the topic of the present work, introducing line defects like ion tracks could influence its optoelectronic properties by making them anisotropic. Furthermore, ultrathin films and 2D materials can lead to various ion track morphologies due to the confinement of the deposited energy [29,37,47].…”

“…We attribute this striking change in track morphology to the limited thickness of the ITO film and the high value of electronic stopping for the 92 MeV Xe beam. Although the influence of the thickness of the film is one of the contemporary research topics[29,47], the observed nanostripes consisting of two parallel chains of nanohillocks are much more reminiscent of rupturing and folding as observed in MoS2[37]. Note, that the efficiency for ion track formation (with exception for 3 MeV O irradiation) is close to 1.…”