Structural and Electrical Characterization of U Ltra-Thin SiO 2 Grown on Hydrogen-Terminated Silicon Surfaces

The surface microroughness of Si(100) wafers has been studied by FT-IR-ATR. The final wafer clean in an 0.1% HF + 1% H 2 O 2 aqueous solution significantly improves the hydrogenterminated surface morphology as demonstrated by a sharp SiH 2 stretching vibration peak accompanied with the weak SiH and SiH 3 peaks. The ultra-thin gate oxide grown on such surface exhibits nearly ideal tunneling current transport. The cleaning in 4.5% HF reduces the SiH 2 peak height and enhances SiH 3 , making the surface rough. Nevertheless, the tunneling characteristics are hardly influenced with such spectral change.