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Germanium behaviour during the low‐temperature plasma‐assisted oxidation of SiGe alloys
Author(s) -
Tételin C.,
Wallart X.,
Nys J. P.,
Vescan L.
Publication year - 1995
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.740230604
Subject(s) - germanium , auger , oxide , alloy , plasma , layer (electronics) , materials science , epitaxy , oxidation process , analytical chemistry (journal) , chemistry , metallurgy , chemical engineering , silicon , nanotechnology , atomic physics , chromatography , engineering , quantum mechanics , physics
In this paper, we investigate the germanium behaviour during the low‐temperature plasma‐assisted oxidation of strained epitaxial Si 1 − x Ge x ( x = 0.1, 0.2) layers. For an oxidation temperature of 500°C and an oxide thickness between 80 and 200 Å, using Auger depth profiling, we find that the oxidation process leads to the formation of a pure SiO 2 top layer and the rejection of Ge at the oxide/alloy interface. Taking into account in a suitable way the broadening effect affecting the Auger profiles, we show that a pure Ge layer is formed at the interface.