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Chemical inhomogeneity of SiO x dissociation by catalytic Au at a relatively low temperature
Author(s) -
Sharma Manoj K.,
Lee KyoungJae,
Ihm Kyuwook
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
surface and interface analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.52
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1096-9918
pISSN - 0142-2421
DOI - 10.1002/sia.6075
Subject(s) - dissociation (chemistry) , annealing (glass) , oxide , x ray photoelectron spectroscopy , catalysis , chemistry , silicon , valence (chemistry) , scanning electron microscope , oxygen , spectral line , electronic structure , scanning tunneling microscope , valence band , crystallography , analytical chemistry (journal) , materials science , nanotechnology , band gap , chemical engineering , computational chemistry , optoelectronics , physics , biochemistry , organic chemistry , chromatography , astronomy , engineering , composite material
Sporadic catalytic decomposition because of the presence of Au grains is a significant issue to be clarified in electronic devices. Here, we report the inhomogeneous dissociation of native silicon oxide depending on the electronic structure of Au grains using scanning photoelectron microscopy. Upon annealing, the oxygen atoms dissociated from native SiO x layer out‐diffuses in non‐uniform manner, resulting in oxidize the Au layer. Valence band spectra showed that the spit‐orbit splitting, directly related to the coordination number, differs from site to site. Scanning photoelectron microscopy images show that dissociated SiO x coincides with the regions where low‐coordinated Au resides. These results imply that Au with low coordination number activated the dissociation of SiO x and open new pathway to remove undesirable oxide layer at relatively low temperature. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.