Abstract
Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and computer-controlled parallel electron energy loss spectroscopy (PEELS) are used to obtain the structure of and compositional profile across a thin oxide film deposited by remote plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition at 300°C. The film, believed to be stoichio-metrically correct SiO2 as determined by Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), was found to be oxygen rich with a composition non-uniformity across it. The existence of an abundance of oxygen was supported by capacitance-voltage measurements and etch rate studies. The non-uniformity was observed in TEM images. These results show what a powerful characterization technique computer-controlled PEELS can be. In addition, this is the first time that PEELS profiling was used to help interpret TEM images.
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Waytena, G.L. Electron microscopy and energy loss study of low temperature plasma deposited oxide on a CZ grown Si substrate. J. Electron. Mater. 22, 93–97 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02665729
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02665729