Study of oxide film with the hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

Kobata, Masaaki  ; Kobayashi, Keisuke*

We report the applications of a hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to the characterization of SiO/Si(001)systems. Large escape depth of high-energy photoelectron enables us to probe buried layers and their interfaces in multilayer structures. Estimation of SiO overlayer thicknesses up to 25 nm by angle resolved XPS was possible in SiO/Si(001) samples. Determination of the thickness profile of a wedged shape SiO buried layer was successfully done in Ir (8 nm)/HfO (2.2 nm)/thickness graded-SiO (0-10 nm) / Si (100). The Si 1s core level showed a SiO thickness dependent shift, which was ascribed to fixed charge at the SiO-Si interface. Energy distribution of interface states at ultrathin thermal oxide/Si(100) interfaces were determined by Si 1 core level shift by applying gate bias in metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) structure with 5 nm Au gate electrodes.