Infrared spectroscopic analysis of an ordered Si/SiO2 interface

Infrared spectroscopy is used to compare the Si/SiO2 interfaces created by thermal oxidation of a standard Si(100) substrate and of an ordered, (1x1) Si(100) substrate. The thermal oxides (approximately 25 Angstrom) examined in this study are etched in dilute hydrofluoric acid and the resulting films analyzed spectroscopically. The behavior of the dominant optical phonon modes as a function of film thickness provides strong evidence that the ordered Si(100) substrate provides a template for an Si/SiO2 interface with a higher degree of homogeneity in the Si-O bonding environment of the intervening substoichiometric SiOx layer than does the standard Si(100) substrate. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.