Interfacial structures of LaAlO3 films on Si(100) substrates

This paper investigates the interfacial characteristics of LaAlO3 (LAO) and LaAlOxNy (LAON) films deposited directly on silicon substrates by the pulsed-laser deposition technique. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) pictures indicate that an interfacial reaction between LAO and Si often exists. The interfacial layer thickness of LAO films deposited in a nitrogen ambient atmosphere is smaller than that of LAO films deposited in an oxygen ambient atmosphere. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) were used to study the composition of the interfacial layer. The shift of the La 3d photoelectron peak to a higher binding energy compared to LaAlO3, the shift of the Al 2p peak to a higher binding energy compared to LaAlO3, the shift of the Si 2p peak to a lower binding energy compared to SiO2 and the intermediate location of the O 1s peak compared to LaAlO3 and SiO2 indicate the existence of a La-Al-Si-O bonding structure, which was also proved by the AES depth profile of LAO films. It can be concluded that the interfacial layer is not simply SiO2 but a compound of La-Al-Si-O.