Controlled positive and negative surface charge injection and erasure in a GaAs/AlGaAs based microdevice by scanning probe microscopy

In this paper, we show that positive and negative charges can be injected into the surface of SiO(2)/Si(3)N(4)/SiO(2)/GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure material by using a biased tip of a scanning probe microscope. Furthermore, the injected charges can be erased with the same tip once grounded, working in slow scan and contact mode. Surface potential measurements by quantitative analysis of Kelvin probe force microscopy after drawing and erasing charges at room temperature are presented and discussed.