Band offsets for ultrathin SiO2 and Si3N4 films on Si(111) and Si(100) from photoemission spectroscopy

High resolution soft x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy with synchrotron radiation is used to study the interfaces of SiO2/Si(111), SiO2/Si(100), Si(111)/Si3N4, and SiO2/Si3N4 for device-quality ultrathin gate oxides and nitrides. The thin oxides and nitrides were grown by remote plasma deposition at a temperature of 300 °C. Aftergrowth samples were further processed by rapid thermal annealing for 30 s at various temperatures from 700 to 950 °C. The Si(111)/Si3N4 samples were air exposed and formed a thin ∼6 A SiO2 layer with a Si(2p) core-level shift of 3.9 eV, thus allowing us to study both the Si(111)/Si3N4 and SiO2/Si3N4 interfaces with a single type of sample. We obtain band offsets of 4.54±0.06 eV for SiO2/Si(111) and 4.35±0.06 eV for SiO2/Si(100) with film thicknesses in the range 8–12 A. The Si(111)/Si3N4 nitrides show 1.78±0.09 eV valence-band offset for 15–21 A films. This value agrees using the additivity relationship with our independent photoemission measurements of the nitride–oxide valence-ba...

[1]  J. Hauser,et al.  Optimization of nitrided gate dielectrics by plasma-assisted and rapid thermal processing , 1998 .

[2]  G. Lucovsky,et al.  Ultrathin oxide gate dielectrics prepared by low temperature remote plasma-assisted oxidation , 1998 .

[3]  Seiichi Miyazaki,et al.  Structure and electronic states of ultrathin SiO2 thermally grown on Si(100) and Si(111) surfaces , 1997 .

[4]  M. Hirose,et al.  The valence band alignment at ultrathin SiO2/Si interfaces , 1997 .

[5]  Lee,et al.  Si 2p core-level shifts at the Si(100)-SiO2 interface: An experimental study. , 1996, Physical review. B, Condensed matter.

[6]  F. Mcfeely,et al.  An inquiry concerning the principles of Si 2p core‐level photoemission shift assignments at the Si/SiO2 interface , 1996 .

[7]  F. Mcfeely,et al.  Core‐level photoemission and the structure of the Si/SiO2 interface: A reappraisal , 1994 .

[8]  T. C. Mcgill,et al.  Measurement of the CdSe/ZnTe valence band offset by x‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy , 1991 .

[9]  N. V. Smith,et al.  Improved resolution of a 6 m toroidal grating monochromator , 1990 .

[10]  F. J. Himpsel,et al.  Microscopic structure of the SiO 2 /Si interface , 1988 .

[11]  Himpsel,et al.  Microscopic structure of the SiO2/Si interface. , 1988, Physical review. B, Condensed matter.

[12]  F. J. Grunthaner,et al.  Chemical and electronic structure of the SiO2/Si interface , 1987 .

[13]  Margaritondo,et al.  Dipole-induced changes of the band discontinuities at the SiO2-Si interface. , 1986, Physical review letters.

[14]  N. V. Smith,et al.  A 6 m toroidal-grating-monochromator beam line for high momentum-resolution photoelectron spectroscopy , 1984 .