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Sudden surface roughening followed by levelling observed in SIMS analysis of InP‐containing III–V multilayers
Author(s) -
Miethe K.,
Kuphal E.
Publication year - 1993
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.740200819
Subject(s) - overlayer , epitaxy , levelling , secondary ion mass spectrometry , materials science , analytical chemistry (journal) , mineralogy , ion , chemistry , geology , nanotechnology , layer (electronics) , geodesy , organic chemistry , chromatography
An epitaxially grown III‐V multilayer system with an InP overlayer (80 nm thick) subjected to secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) depth profiling was found to develop an extreme topography in the overlayer. As this topography was levelled in subsequent layers an improvement of depth resolution with depth was observed in the SIMS profile. The topography features seen by scanning electron microscopy on the InP overlayer agree with those reported and interpreted previously for bulk InP. Here, the fact is emphasized that during SIMS analysis extreme topography is likely to develop even on thin layers of InP, but that topography levelling (as described extensively in earlier work) may lead to an improvement of depth resolution if further layers of InP are absent.